Deadly Blasts Rock Damascus, Syrian Intel HQ

At least 50 people were killed and some 370 wounded in two huge, nearly simultaneous bomb blasts in Damascus today, targeting the headquarters of the feared "Palestinian Branch" intelligence services, Syrian officials said. The bombs hit the busy al-Qazaz district, and according to an AP reporter on the scene, one ripped the façade clear off of the building. The other blew a 10-foot-deep crater in the city's southern ring road, according to Reuters, leaving body parts strewn across the street.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which the Syrian government blamed on "terrorists," saying that most of the dead and wounded were civilians. The head of the UN monitoring team in Syria visited the scene, and decried the "terrible violence," saying, "It is not going to solve any problems. It is only going to create more suffering for women and children." (More Damascus stories.)