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The toll from twin car bombs that rocked the outskirts of the Syrian city of Sweida has risen to 26 people, including a prominent Druze cleric known for criticising Syria's regime, a monitor said.

"The death toll from the car bomb attacks outside Sweida has risen to 26 people. Another 50 people are wounded," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Friday.

Abdel Rahman earlier said that Sheikh Wahid al-Balous, who spoke out often against both the Syrian regime and Islamists, was killed in the attack as he was driving on the outskirts of the city. The second car bomb struck near the hospital in the Dahr al-Jabal neighbourhood where the wounded were being taken, the monitor added.

Syria's official news agency SANA earlier said eight people had been killed and 22 wounded. Sweida is the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, which made up around three per cent of the country's pre-war population of 23 million.