Bombs rock Syria military command centre Two large explosions targeting a Syrian army headquarters boomed around central Damascus shortly before 7am local time, killing four people and sending smoke billowing up from around the area as the sound of gunfire rang out. State television read out a statement saying that the Army General Command had been targeted by two blasts. "Armed terrorist gangs, with foreign links, carried out a new terrorist act this morning by blowing up an explosives-laden car and a bomb at the Army General Command, which damaged the building, caused a fire and wounded some of the guards," the statement said A statement from the rebel Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the blasts, saying they had killed dozens in the army headquarters. Hours later state television announced four military guards were killed and 14 other people wounded in what it described as two suicide bombings at the government's military command centre. Damascus residents reported severe disruption in the city, with many unable to get to work because of road closures and checkpoints. An executive from one company said it had been forced to shut seven premises in the capital because of the trouble. The attack resembles an explosion that killed four top security officials in July, giving the rebels pronounced momentum in the civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the uprising started early last year. Lebanon's al-Manar television station, which belongs to Hizbollah, a Syrian regime ally, and which is usually well informed on security matters in Damascus, said that the twin blasts were followed by an assault on the headquarters in which guards were killed. The station quoted a security source saying that "several militants" were then killed in ensuing clashes. A reporter for an Iranian state-owned English-language TV channel was killed by sniper fire while covering the blasts, the station said, blaming rebels for the killing. Iran is closely allied to the Syrian regime. "Insurgents in the Syrian capital Damascus have attacked Press TV staff and killed one of our reporters," the station's anchor announced. Press TV's Damascus bureau chief was also wounded, the station said. An editor for the station said the correspondent was a Syrian national and was reporting the blasts live on the phone when he suddenly cut out, which led to the assumption that this is when he was shot dead. A reporter in Damascus for Iran's main state television channel said the rebels "in Syrian Army uniforms" infiltrated the army command headquarters. It was not clear if this happened before or after the twin blasts. After that attack, state media was quick to announce the deaths. There was no immediate official corroboration of the rebels claim to have killed people inside the army headquarters in this instance. The UN Security Council has failed to make any headway in stopping the bloodshed in Syria, left paralysed by divisions between western powers and those of China and Russia over a foreign-imposed transition of power. The UN has attacked the regime and rebel forces over abuses that could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. The escalating violence and the Security Council's inability to act led the Emir of Qatar on Tuesday to call Syria's situation "intolerable" and pushed for Arab countries to take action instead - unlike Iran, Gulf states and Turkey have sided with the Syrian opposition - though such intervention is unlikely to materialise soon.