DAMASCUS, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Two explosions took place in Syria's northwestern city of Latakia and the northern city of Raqqa on Monday.

An explosive device exploded in the al-Tabiyat neighborhood in Latakia city, leaving minor damage, said state news agency SANA.

A source from the police department in Latakia said the explosive device was likely buried under the dirt for a long time before exploding on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that one man was killed and nine others wounded by the explosion of a car bomb in the Raqqa city, which is controlled by the Kurdish forces.

The Britain-based watchdog group said that the death toll could likely rise due to the number of critically wounded people.

It said that sleeper cells of the Islamic State (IS) group could be behind the blast.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been controlling Raqqa since 2017 after taking it from IS.

Raqqa was the de facto capital of IS and when the group lost it, its sleeper cells carried out several explosions, targeting the SDF positions.