ISLAMIC State (Isis) claimed responsibility for bombings yesterday that killed at least 20 and wounded 100 in the Syrian city of Homs.

The attack came as the Syrian army made fresh gains against Isis and other rebel forces and Russia rejected what it called Turkish “blackmail” over peace talks scheduled for Friday.

A car bomb and then a suicide bomber hit a security checkpoint in the Zahra district of Homs, home to many members of the Alawite Muslim sect considered heretical by Isis fundamentalists.

Prime Minister Wael Halaqi accused foreign states of backing the terrorists, who he said were targeting the Syrian people in revenge for military defeats elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Syrian troops backed by Russian air power took full control of Sheikh Maskin in southern Daraa province yesterday following nearly a month of fighting.

Soldiers liberated the town from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army, which is led by defectors from the Syrian army and government.

The Syrian army is also preparing to take Kinsiba, the last stronghold of Turkish-backed guerillas in the north of Latakia province.

After Kinsiba only the town of Jisr al-Shughur stands between the army and the city of Idlib, held by the Saudi-backed Army of Conquest.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned Turkey’s continued opposition to the inclusion of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in peace talks, calling it a grave mistake.

“How can you talk about political reforms in Syria if you ignore a leading Kurdish party?” he asked, adding that the Kurds accounted for 15 per cent of the population.

Mr Lavrov also denied rumours that Moscow has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and accept exile in Russia.

“No-one has asked for or offered any political asylum,” he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose government has violently cracked down on its own Kurdish population in recent months, claimed: “We do not oppose the Kurds but we oppose the PYD and YPG who oppress the Kurds.”

The PYD and its People’s Protection Units militia are allied with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party — declared a terrorist organisation in Turkey.