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A hand grenade was thrown into a crowd of children in a centralÌýÌýon Monday, killing two children and wounding three more.

The unidentified attacker targeted boys and girls in Al-Mashahde village,Ìý, an area under tight regime control and reportedly a hotspot for drug gangs.

Sources told °®Âþµº's Arabic sister service, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, thatÌýa boy and a girl were killed in the attack and that one of the three wounded, a girl, is in critical condition.

The incident was reportedly sparked by a dispute between smugglers linked with Syrian regime forces, the sources said.

Roads leading to Al-Mashahde are teeming with military checkpoints and troops from the regime's Fourth Division given its location on a smuggling route from , they added.

All vehicles must pass through two checkpoints before entering the village, leading to allegations that the attacker is linked to regime security forces.

Syria and neighbouring countries have seen "drug wars" break out due to the spread of captagon, an amphetamine that is produced in and distributed from regime-held areas.