Syria's deputy foreign minister says 30 people have been killed in two suicide car bomb explosions in the capital, Damascus, ahead of calls by anti-government activists for fresh protests across the country.
At least 100 other people were wounded in Friday's attack, which targeted two security facilities in the Kfar Sousa district, Faisal Mukdad said.
Investigations indicated that an al-Qaeda armed group may have been responsible for the attack, according to state media.
"Several soldiers and a large number of civilians were killed in the two attacks carried out by suicide bombers in vehicles packed with explosives against bases of State Security and another branch of the security services," Syrian Television said.
It aired footage of damaged buildings and dead bodies being transferred to ambulances. Syria has portrayed the nine-month uprising in the country as the work of "terrorist" extremists and armed gangs.
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from neighbouring Lebanon, said the blasts marked the first such attack in the Syrian capital since the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
"The capital has been relatively quiet. If the government is trying to say this is the work of protesters or even al-Qaeda sympathisers, the attack is in the heart of the capital and that makes the government look very vulnerable," she said.
In another part of Syria, activists reported the death of eight people in the central city of Homs, where they said government forces fired at protesters leaving Omar Mosque in Jandali neighbourhood.
Al jazeera
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