Damascus bombs kill 40 - FT.com Two explosions tore through the Syrian capital of Damascus on Thursday, killing more than 40 people and wounding at least 170, according to state media. Residents in Damascus said they heard the blasts, which took place on the southern outskirts of the city, at about 8am local time. The UK-based opposition group the Syrian Human Rights Observatory said one of bombs exploded outside a military intelligence building. The Syrian state news agency showed images of corpses, cindered vehicles, body parts and a huge crater in the road. An amateur video posted online showed a thick column of smoke rising above the Damascus skyline. Although much of the country is in turmoil as the military and security forces battle pro-democracy protesters and lightly armed rebels, the political and economic hubs of central Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's second city, are tightly controlled, and had been relatively free from violence until a spate of bombings began at the end of last year. UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said after briefing the Security Council on Syria earlier this week that the pattern of bombings was "really worrying." As with previous attacks, the authorities blamed "terrorists" for Thursday's violence, while opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime blamed his government. "Assad will burn Syria," said one activist in Damascus. State television showed a man walking around the site of the bomb blast saying it was the "work of the Saudis." Saudi Arabia has advocated providing weapons to rebels in Syria. The attacks come a day after an explosion in the southern province of Deraa narrowly missed a convoy of UN observers. The observers are in Syria monitoring a ceasefire brokered by Mr Annan that is supposed to have come in to effect a month ago. "This is yet another example of the suffering brought upon the people of Syria from acts of violence," said Major General Robert Mood, the leader of the UN monitoring team, who inspected the site of Thursday's bomb blast. I call on everyone within and outside Syria to help stop this violence. Additional reporting by Michael Peel in Abu Dhabi and Reuters