Suicide car bombs rock Damascus

Twin explosions that shook the heart of the Syrian capital today were from suicide car bombs that may have been the work of al Qaida militants, state TV said.

State TV has made no mention of casualties.

The blasts are the first such attack in the Syrian capital since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad in March and come a day after the arrival of an team of Arab League observers.

An Associated Press reporter in Damascus says the blasts went off within a minute of one another in the Kfar Sousa district, where the state security and intelligence buildings are located. Residents report hearing gunfire afterward.

Syria has portrayed the nine-month uprising in Syria as the work of terrorist extremists and armed gangs.

The state TV report, about an hour after the blasts went off, said initial investigations showed involvement by the al-Qaida terrorist network.

It showed footage of several mutilated and torn bodies on the ground, with rubble, twisted debris and burned cars littering the road. Bystanders and ambulance workers used blankets and stretchers to carry blood-stained bodies into vehicles.

The explosions went off within minutes of each other, shaking residents around the city.

“The explosions shook the house, it was frightful,” said Nidal Hamidi, 34, a Syrian journalist who lives in Kfar Sousa.

He said gunfire was heard immediately following the explosion and said apartment windows in a radius area of 200 metres from the explosions were shattered.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown waged since March by the Syrian regime against protesters. With the arrival of Arab observers, the government has been eager to make its case, saying on Thursday that 2,000 of its security personnel and soldiers have been killed in the turmoil.