27 Killed, 140 Wounded in Damascus Blasts
Two huge bomb blasts killed at least 27 people in Syria's capital on Saturday, sparking anger at Riyadh and Doha, as special envoy Kofi Annan warned of regional fallout from the year-long bloodshed.
State television said the early morning "terrorist" attacks, apparently car bombings timed minutes apart, had targeted police headquarters in the Duwar al-Jamarek area and air force intelligence offices in al-Qasaa district.
The explosions killed 27 people, mainly civilians, and wounded 140 civilians and security personnel, the interior ministry said.
Three people had been reduced to "body parts" by the force of the blast, it added.
As angry residents vented their fury at Arab supporters of anti-regime activists, the state broadcaster ran footage of a charred body inside the mangled remains of a smoldering vehicle in Duwar al-Jamarek.
The other blast totally gutted the facade of a multi-storey building, also destroying several cars. The channel broadcast images of wrecked apartments and blood-splattered streets.
From Paris, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "France condemns all acts of terrorism, which cannot be justified under any circumstances." France has been at the forefront of calls for Assad to quit.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr affirmed Cairo's "fixed position against terrorism in any form, regardless of the reasons behind it."
The continuing bloodshed confirmed the need to start implementing the Arab League initiative, he added.
Bombings have hit Syria's major cities in recent months provoking mounting concern that al-Qaida has taken advantage of the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Syria's opposition however has accused the regime of having stage-managed the attacks.
Commentators on state television blamed Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the fiercest Arab critics of Assad over his regime's deadly crackdown on dissent since March 2011. Both countries have called for rebels to be armed.
"Saudi Arabia is sending us terrorists," a resident of the devastated areas said on television.
"These are the friends... of the Istanbul council," said another of the opposition Syrian National Council set up in the Turkish city last August.
On Friday, U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Annan warned of a regional "escalation" of the Syria conflict and urged the U.N. Security Council to close ranks to put pressure on Assad.
The former United Nations chief, who met Assad in Damascus last weekend, has ordered a team of U.N. experts to Syria to discuss a possible ceasefire and international monitoring mission, his spokesman said.
Russian and China have twice used their veto powers as permanent members to block Security Council resolutions on the Syrian crisis that they said were unbalanced.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday he had spoken to Annan shortly after his talks with Assad and had been told that the strongman's resignation was not under discussion.
Annan himself told the Security Council he had had a "disappointing" response from Assad so far to his proposals.
Syria's foreign ministry said the country would cooperate with Annan and at the same time pursue its crackdown on "armed terrorist gangs," which it blames for the bloodshed.
Thousands of anti-government protesters called on Friday for foreign military intervention as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 18 people were killed nationwide.
A large crowd also took part in a rare demonstration in al-Raqqa in northeast Syria, as seen in a video posted on the Internet by activists.
The Britain-based Observatory said funerals were held on Saturday for two people killed during the al-Raqqa protest and security forces opened fire on mourners, killing another two people.
Huge rallies in support of Assad were held in Damascus and other major cities on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that monitors say has cost more than 9,100 lives in 12 months.
Apart from Annan's technical team, the U.N. and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are to send experts to Damascus on a Syrian government-led humanitarian mission to protest cities devastated in shelling by security forces.
The team members will head to Damascus from New York and Geneva on Monday, Annan's spokesman said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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