Syrian state television is reporting that the brother of the speaker of parliament has been assassinated.

The SANA news agency says Mohammed Osama Laham, brother to parliament speaker Jihad Laham, was shot dead early Tuesday as he drove to work in the capital, Damascus.

The shooting follows some of the fiercest fighting Syria has seen in months.

On Monday, a Syrian activist group said a suicide car bomber has killed more than 50 Syrian soldiers and gunmen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in central Hama province.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday's attack in the village of Ziyara was carried out by the Al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-inspired Islamist militant group.

The death toll cannot be independently verified.

The observatory and Syrian state television say at least 11 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a car bombing in the Mazzeh neighborhood of the capital, Damascus.

Activists also say at least 20 Syrian rebel fighters were killed in an air strike in northwest Idlib province.

The Syrian conflict is entering its 20th month and has caused the deaths of an estimated 36,000 people.