23 Dec 2011

Dozens killed in Damascus attacks

Dozens of people have died in the Syrian capital Damascus after two booby-trapped cars exploded at security forces sites in the city.

Syria’s Dunia television channel said 40 people have been killed and 100 wounded, quoting its correspondent on the scene. Dunia said most of the casualties were civilians.

State television said a number of civilans and soldiers had died in the worst violence to hit Syria‘s capital during nine months of unrest against President Bashar al-Assad.

The attack came a day after Arab League officials arrived to prepare for a monitoring team that will check whether Assad is implementing a plan to end the bloodshed. Though a Reuters cameraman was barred from the site, the state channel broadcast footage of bloodied bodies being carried in blankets and stretchers into ambulances and people hunting through rubble of a badly damaged building.

It described the attack as a suicide bombing that targeted a state security administration building and a local security branch, and said initial inquiries indicated al-Qaeda was behind it.

Read more: Abuse of ordinary Syrians ‘rampant’, says report

Who is responsible?

Previously the Syrian authorities have blamed armed groups for the months of violence that they say has killed 2,000 soldiers and security force members since popular unrest broke out in March.

Foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdesi said the attacks were carried out by “terrorists (trying) to sabotage the will for change” in Syria, and followed warnings from Lebanon that al-Qaeda fighters had infiltrated the country from Lebanese territory. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, however.

Assad’s opponents said the attack could have been staged to drive home the government’s argument. “We have all sorts of suspicions that this could be organised by the regime itself,” said Basma Qadmani, spokeswoman for the Syrian National Council.

Alistair Burt, Foreign Office minster for the Middle East, condemned the attacks. He said: “I remain deeply worried about the situation in Syria and about anything which further enflames this. There needs to be an immediate end to the violence in Syria for the sake of the Syrian people.”

Bloody crackdown

The United Nations says government forces have killed more than 5,000 people in their crackdown on the protests, which erupted in March inspired by uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Syria says it faces a campaign by foreign-backed gunmen and terrorist groups. This week it said more than 2,000 members of the army and security forces had been killed since March.

Anti-Assad protests have swept the country, although central Damascus and the northern commercial city of Aleppo have remained relatively quiet.

A small blast was reported near a Syrian intelligence building in Damascus last month, but there was little damage.

But in recent months the mainly peaceful pro-democracy movement has become overshadowed by pockets of armed insurgency that have launched attacks on Syrian security forces.

The escalating violence on both sides has raised fears that the country is slipping towards civil war.

Activists say Assad, 46, is still trying to stamp out protests with troops and tanks despite international sanctions and his avowed agreement to the Arab League plan.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Assad’s forces carried out major assaults in the northern and southern provinces this week, apparently trying to crush opposition to strengthen his hand before the arrival of the monitors.

It said troops surrounded and killed 111 people on Tuesday in the northern province of Idlib, in the deadliest assault since the uprising erupted.

The Swiss government has frozen 50m Swiss francs (£34m) of funds belonging to Syrian President and other top officials.