Twin bombings rock Damascus

PanARMENIAN.Net - Twin bombings in the Syrian capital early Saturday, March 17, killed police and civilians, state television said, without giving any immediate breakdown, as fears mounted Al-Qaeda is trying to exploit the year-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, AFP reported.

"Two terrorist bombings struck Damascus this morning," the television said, adding that preliminary reports suggested the bombers had blown up vehicles packed with explosives.

It said police and civilians were among the dead but gave no numbers.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that two powerful explosions targeted security service buildings in the capital.

A spate of bombings have hit Syria's big cities in recent months amid growing concerns that Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of a year-old uprising against Assad's regime to shift its focus of operations from neighbouring Iraq.

On March 3, a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle in Daraa, south of Damascus, cradle of the protest movement that erupted in March last year, killing two people and wounding 20, including security force personnel, the official SANA news agency said.

On January 6, a car bomb exploded in Damascus killing 26 people and wounding dozens more, most of them civilians. State media said it was a suicide attack and blamed "terrorists".

The blast came after twin bombs hit security services bases in the capital on December 23, with state media pointing the finger at Al-Qaeda.

Twin car bombs in the northern city of Aleppo on February 10 killed 28 people and wounded 235.