Syria ‘Suicide Attacks Kill 40′

At least 40 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in two suicide car bombings in Syria’s capital, Damascus, officials say.

State TV said suspected al-Qaeda militants had targeted a General Security Directorate base and another security agency in the Kafr Sousa area.

But opposition activists said the government had staged the attacks to influence an Arab League observer team.

The observers are part of a plan to end the deadly crackdown on dissent.

The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed and thousands more detained since anti-government protests erupted in March.

The monitors are tasked with overseeing the government’s compliance with an agreement that should see an end to violence by both sides, troops withdrawn from the streets and all detained protesters released.

But human rights and opposition activists said the killings continued on Friday, with security forces shooting dead at least 12 civilians.

The US state department on Friday condemned the attacks but said they must not deter the Arab League observers from doing their work.

Anchor Lisa Mullins talks to the BBC’s Lina Sinjab to get more details.

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World. Two explosions tore through the capital of Syria today. The government says they were suicide car bombings aimed at security forces in Damascus. Officials say at least 40 people were killed. Syria’s government-run television showed rescue teams combing through the wreckage. The BBC’s Lina Sinjab is in Damascus. There has not been a lot of violence in Damascus so far, who were the bombs targeting today?

Lina Sinjab: Well, the attacks were targeting these state security buildings in the center of Damascus in an area called Kafr Sousa, an area that has witnessed a lot of focus in the past several months. However, this area is a highly secured area, so it is hard to breakthrough this area and the blast caused massive damages to the entrance of the building. And of course we’ve seen on Syrian television horrible pictures of the injured and of the people who have been killed. It was a massive attack, unprecedented in the capital, Damascus, since the uprisings started.

Mullins: Is it clear right now, Lina, who was behind the blasts?

Sinjab: Well, it was a surprise that the government within 20 minutes of the blast came out to blame al-Qaeda of being behind the attacks. They said later that they found in initial investigations traces of al-Qaeda-like attacks, which is basically these suicide bombings in two cars as well. They even said that the Lebanese defense minister two days ago said members of al-Qaeda have infiltrated into Syria. But the opposition is raising big questions on this attack saying the timing of the attacks coinciding with the arrival of the Arab League inspectors into town just serves the government’s line that the situation in Syria is not about peaceful protests as much as it is about a conspiracy and terrorist attacks aiming at destabilizing the country. That’s what the opposition’s saying that the attacks today could well be the make of the government to support their own arguments, but the government of course is saying these are terrorist groups, these are al-Qaeda attacks and this is part of a conspiracy against the country.

Mullins: Lina, one more question, we mentioned that there is considerable coverage on state-run television in Syria of the rescue teams responding to the bombings. Is there much coverage on the other hand of the Arab League’s peace plan for Syria?

Sinjab: Well, we heard that the Arab League inspectors have visited the site, which was the first thing they would see in their mission that was supposed to go into all these hot areas and see for themselves what’s happening on the ground. But we haven’t seen their movements. We don’t have information about their next steps and where they are going to be. I was just talking to the foreign ministry’s spokesperson who said that the Arab inspectors will have full access and free movement, that they can go wherever they want and see for themselves. They want the Arab inspectors to see that the situation in Syria is not black and white and that there are terrorists who are aiming to destabilize the country.

Mullins: The BBC’s Lina Sinjab in Damascus, the scene of two explosions earlier today.

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