Al Qaeda blamed for double suicide car bombs that kill 40 and injure 100 more in Syrian capital security site attacks

Double suicide car bombings which today shook the heart of the Syrian capital Damascus have been blamed on Al Qaeda.

State TV said a number of military personnel and civilians were killed in the blasts, which went off within minutes of each other.

They targeted the state security and intelligence buildings in the upmarket Kfar Sousa district.  Other reports suggest at least 40 people may have been killed - most of them civilians.

Carnage: Footage from Syrian state shows a dead body being carried away from the site of a suicide attack outside a security service base in Damascus 

Blown apart: Syrian state TV shows citizens searching through the rubble at the site of a suicide attack in Damascus

Residents reported hearing gunfire and ambulance sirens for several minutes following the explosions.

The blasts are the first such attack in the Syrian capital since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March.

And they came the day after an advance team of Arab League observers arrived in the country on a mission to try and put an end to the bloodshed which has raged for nine months.

More than 5,000 protesters have died at the hands of government security forces, according to the UN, including 200 in just two days this week.

But the regime has hit back at the figures and claimed that 2,000 pro-government troops have been killed by the protesters, whom it characterises as terrorists.

This claim was made in a letter to the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, and was not backed up by supporting evidence.

Bloody: A dead body is carried away from the site of a suicide attack in Damascus

Casualties: Two Syrian men allegedly killed by government security forces in Kfar Owaid 

In the letter, the government said UN reports were 'politicised, unprofessional and selective' and ignored reports by the regime detailing the violations allegedly being committed by terrorist groups in Syria.

The Arab League observers who are about to arrive will be the first to be allowed into the country since the uprising began in March.

The opposition suspects Assad's agreement to allow the monitors in after weeks of stalling is only a tactic to buy time and ward off a new round of international sanctions and condemnation.

In a statement, Mr Ghalioun called on the UN to 'urgently intervene' to stop the bloodshed, saying the Arab peace initiative was no longer enough.

Activists called for nationwide demonstrations today, the usual day of protest, against the observer mission. In addition to the monitors, the Arab League plan calls for Syria to halt its crackdown, open talks with the opposition, withdraw military forces from city streets and allow in human rights workers and journalists.

The 22-member league has also suspended Syria's membership and imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions.

Council: President Bashar Assad, centre, meets tribal leaders, who have pledged loyalty to the regime
Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077968/Al-Qaeda-blamed-double-suicide-car-bombs-kill-40-injure-100-Syrian-capital-security-site-attacks.html?ito=feeds-newsxml