Suicide blasts kill dozens in Syrian capital

ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY Associated Press Published:

BEIRUT (AP) -- Twin suicide car bombs struck intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital Saturday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 140, according to state media.


"All our windows and doors are blown out," said Majed Seibiyah, 29, who lives in the area of one of the blasts "I was sleeping when I heard a sound like an earthquake. I didn't grasp what was happening until I hear screaming in the street."

A third blast also was reported, at a refugee camp housing thousands of Palestinians in Damascus, but the two bombers were the only casualties, SANA said.

The blasts were the latest in a string of mysterious, large-scale attacks targeting the Syrian regime's military and security installations. The previous blasts, also suicide bombings, killed dozens of people since December, even as the regime wages a bloody crackdown against the year-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.



Al-Qaida's leader called for Assad's ouster in February.




The Free Syrian Army has appealed for the international community to send weapons to help it fight the regime, but no countries are heeding the call. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been discussing military aid, but the U.S. and others have not advocated arming the rebels, in part out of fear it would create an even more bloody and prolonged battle.

An Interior Ministry statement tied Saturday's explosions to "the escalation seen recently by regional and international sides, which was consecrated with their open calls for sending weapons to Syria."

The statement said Syria "will act decisively against anyone who dares strike the security, stability and unity of the country."

The twin suicide car bombings hit the air force intelligence department building and the criminal security department, several miles apart in Damascus, at approximately the same time, around 7 a.m., the Interior Ministry said. Much of the facade of the intelligence building appeared to have been ripped away.



The Syrian government denies there is a popular will behind the uprising, saying foreign extremists and gangs are trying to destroy the country. But Assad's opponents deny that and say an increasingly active rebel force has been pushed into taking up arms because the government used tanks, snipers and machine guns to crush peaceful protests.









