UN mission chief visits site of Damascus blasts

DAMASCUS - Agence France-Presse

Mangled and smouldering vehicles are seen at the site of an explosion in Damascus May 10, 2012. Dozens of people were killed or wounded in two "terrorist explosions" which struck a southern district of the Syrian capital Damascus. REUTERS Photo

Major General Robert Mood, chief of a UN observer mission in Syria, visited the site of two powerful deadly blasts that rocked Damascus today, an AFP correspondent reported.
 
Mood surveyed the damage left by the explosions that took place during morning rush hour on a highway south of the capital and left dozens dead or wounded, according to state television.
 
The attacks came a day after the Norwegian general escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded as he led a team of UN observers into the southern flashpoint city of Daraa.
 
Ten Syrian soldiers escorting them were hurt in Wednesday's bombing, according to the latest reports.
 
The blasts come despite a UN-backed ceasefire that went into effect on April 12 with the aim of ending 14 months of bloodshed in Syria.
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday's blasts targetted a security building. It said one one fo the blasts was caused by the a car bomb.
 
State television blamed the explosions on "terrorists", the term used by authorities to refer to rebels seeking to overturn the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.