BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two explosions struck the heart of Damascus yesterday, killing at least 27 people in an attack on security installations that state television blamed on “terrorists” seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Cars packed with explosives targeted the criminal police headquarters and an air security intelligence centre at 7.30 am (0530 GMT), television said, shredding the facade of one building and sending debris flying through the streets.
Gruesome images from the sites showed what appeared to be smouldering bodies in two separate vehicles, a wrecked minivan smeared with blood, and severed limbs collected in sacks.
At least 27 people were killed and 140 wounded, an interior ministry statement said.
“We heard a huge explosion. At that moment the doors in our house were blown out … even though we were some distance from the blast,” said one elderly man, his head wrapped in a bandage.
No one claimed responsibility for the detonations, which followed a series of suicide attacks that have struck Damascus and Syria’s second city Aleppo over the past three months.
The explosions came two days after the first anniversary of the uprising, in which more than 8,000 people have been killed and about 230,000 forced to flee their homes, according to United Nations figures. They also coincided with a joint mission by the Syrian government, the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that was due to start assessing humanitarian needs in towns across Syria which have suffered from months of unrest.
One source involved in the mission said team members were still gathering in Syria and it was not immediately clear if they would begin their work this weekend as previously planned.
Violence was reported elsewhere in Syria yesterday.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of contacts within Syria, said the body of an old man was found yesterday, a day after he was arrested during raids in the northern region Jabal al-Zawiyah.
It added that five people died in the eastern town of Raqqa, including three who were wounded a day earlier. One person was shot dead by security forces during the funeral of two people killed on Friday.
The Avaaz campaign group said it had evidence of 32 children being tortured last week in the central city of Homs, posting footage on the Internet of the infants in hospital. It said some had broken bones, badly cut fingers and gunshot wounds. Syria denies accusations of brutality and says it is grappling with a foreign-backed insurgency. Reports from the country cannot be independently verified as authorities have barred outside rights groups and journalists.
The UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, warned on Friday that the crisis could spill over into neighbouring countries and urged international powers to lay aside their differences and back his peace initiative.
While the West and much of the Arab world have lined up to demand that Assad steps down, his allies Russia, China and Iran have defended him and cautioned against outside interference.
“The stronger and more unified your message, the better chance we have of shifting the dynamics of the conflict,” an envoy said, summarizing Annan’s remarks to a closed-door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council.