Suicide car bombs blast kill 44 in Damascus

TWIN suicide car bomb blasts ripped through an upscale Damascus district, targeting heavily guarded intelligence buildings and killing at least 44 people, Syrian authorities said.

The blasts came a day after an advance team of Arab League observers arrived in the country to monitor Syria’s promise to end its crackdown on protesters demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad. Government officials took the observers to the scene of the explosions and said it backed their longtime claims that the turmoil is not a popular uprising but the work of terrorists.

The blasts were the first such suicide bombing in Syria since the uprising began in March.