The blast occurred on Sunday in the central Syrian city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"At least 31 people, including regime troops, were killed when a man detonated a truck laden with explosives at a checkpoint near an agricultural vehicles company on the road linking Hama to Salamiyeh," the Britiain-based group said in a statement, adding the death toll could rise because there were "dozens of wounded, some of them in critical condition."

Syrian state television (SANA) carried the story on Sunday, saying that there had been multiple casualties but without giving a specific figure. SANA blamed the attack on "terrorists," a term often used by the government to describe rebels who oppose President Bashar al-Assad.

The attack is the latest violence in the civil war that has divided Syria for the past two-and-a-half years. The United Nations estimates that over 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

Peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian civil war were discussed at a meeting in Egypt between international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and Nabil el-Araby, the head of the Arab League. El-Araby said the talks would take place on November 23 in Geneva, but Brahimi told reporters that the date had not been fixed and a conference could not take place without a "convincing opposition that represents Syria's opposition population."

Not all members of the deeply-divided opposition want to attend such a meeting, and Assad's government has said it will not agree to any deal that required the president to step down.

mz/tj (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)