27 dead in Damascus blasts, Syria gears up for monitors

Damascus, Mar 17, 2012, (AFP)
Twin bomb blasts killed 27 people and wounded almost 100 others in central Damascus today, state media said, as special envoy Kofi Annan geared up for a monitoring mission to end the year-long bloodshed in Syria.

The early morning "terrorist" attacks, timed minutes apart, targeted criminal police headquarters in the Duwar al-Jamarek area and air force intelligence offices in Al-Qasaa district, state television said.

"Twenty-seven people, mostly civilians, were killed and 97 others wounded in the two explosions," Health Minister Wael al-Halaqi said on Syria News, another official channel, as angry residents vented their fury at Arab supporters of anti-regime activists.
"According to our initial information, they were car bombs," state television said.
The broadcaster ran footage of a charred body inside the mangled remains of a smouldering vehicle in Duwar al-Jamarek. "First pictures of the body of one of the terrorists who targeted Damascus today," a message on the screen read.
The front of a multi-storey building was gutted by the impact of the other blast and several cars destroyed. The television broadcast images of wrecked apartments and blood-splattered streets.

An anti-regime activist in Damascus, Abu Muhannad al-Mazzi, told AFP the first blast struck at 7:30 am (0530 GMT). "A few minutes later, the second explosion, more powerful, rang out," he said.

The television showed an elderly woman being carried to an ambulance in her nightdress, while a wounded man, head bandaged and neck in a brace, was shown in hospital in his pyjamas and dressing gown.
Source http://www.deccanherald.com/content/235128/27-dead-damascus-blasts-syria.html