Suicide bombers hit two security service bases in Damascus on Friday, killing 44 people, in attacks the regime blamed on Al-Qaeda but which the opposition said were the work of the regime itself.
The attacks were the first against the powerful security services in the heart of the capital since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March.
"Forty-four people, civilians and security forces, were killed and 166 others injured in the two terrorist operations," the interior ministry said, as an advance team made preparations for Arab League observers to oversee a plan to end the bloodshed.
The material damage was considerable, the statement on state television said, charging that "the hands of Al-Qaeda were behind" the attacks.
One bomber tried to ram a vehicle packed with explosives into the compound of the General Security Directorate, Syria's most important plain-clothes security service, in the Kfar Suseh neighbourhood of Damascus, witnesses said.
A second blew up a vehicle outside a nearby military intelligence building.
Television showed pictures of a huge crater at one of the bomb sites and pools of blood on surrounding pavements.
Bystanders were seen carrying away charred and mangled bodies wrapped in makeshift shrouds.
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