Syria: bomb attacks in Damascus as protests planned - live updates
• 'Dozens killed' in double bomb attacks
• State TV blames Damascus attacks on suicide bombers
• Protests planned against Arab League's 'protocol of death'
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State TV shows Syrians carrying away a dead body at the site of the explosions in Damascus. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images
1.47pm: Streets around the bomb sites were closed by the security forces hours before the explosions took place, witnesses told activists.
Horan, an anti-government activist in Dera'a, said:
Three or four people have told me that the streets were closed by the security services before the bombing.
Speaking via Skype he said:
In normal circumstances it is very difficult to get to these streets, because it the place of the intelligence headquarters, so how did a bomber get there? This has been done by the regime, we are sure about that.
He suspected that the bodies shown on state TV were planted by the government.
Several demonstrators are killed every day by the regime. I'm sure that some of the bodies [they showed] were those of demonstrators. They have planted bodies to before, they took dead people from Dera'a [in the south] and showed the media bodies in Jisr al-Shughour (near the Turkish border).
He said he hoped the Arab League would question the regime's version of events, but he feared that they would not.
Horan added: "No one believes the government. No one believes the TV pictures they are seeing."
1.45pm: Here's a summary of the main developments today, dominated by the blasts in Damascus:
Syria
• Two explosions in Damascus have killed more than 40 people, with more than 150 inured, the Syrian government says. It blamed the attacks on two al-Qaida suicide bombers driving booby-trapped operatives but Syrian TV reported that one perpetrator had been arrested. The state news agency said two "terrorist attacks" targeted the state security directorate and the general intelligence building in the capital. The foreign ministry said it had been warned about al-Qaida infiltration into the country from Lebanon.
• The explosions came as an advance party of Arab League observers were in Damascus and they were taken to see the scene of the blast.Outside the two buildings, mutilated and torn bodies lay amid rubble, twisted debris and burned cars in Damascus' upscale Kfar Sousa district.
• The renegade Free Syrian Army has denied responsibility for the attacks and many activists expressed scepticism about the official account of the blasts. They pointed to a variety of reasons for their doubts, including the speedy conclusion that the bombs were caused by al-Qaida, the coincidence of the presence of the Arab League Observers and the fact that they happened in a high-security area.
• The reports of the explosions failed to deter Assad's opponents from taking to the streets in protests. The Local Co-ordination Committees reported security forces opening fire on protesters in several areas. They said a 15-year-old boy shot dead in Idlib was among the dead. Al-Jazeera reported that 16 people have been killed by the security forces.
Egypt
• Thousands of people have gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square toprotest against Egypt's military rulers and a security assault on a cabinet sit-in last week. The protest has two official slogans - "The Friday of Reclaiming Honour" and "The Friday of Egypt's Women". Amnesty International said the authorities must not use force against peaceful protesters by targeting women with "gender-based violence." Men formed a protective ring around female protesters in Tahrir Square. An unidentified cleric giving the Friday sermon in the square blamed the military for divisions and called on the generals to give up power as the only solution to ending "dictatorship."
Bahrain
• Security forces fired teargas into the headquarters of the opposition al-Wefaq party and at protesters trying to take part in a banned march to Tulib, activists said. They posted pictures and videos of the attacks. The ministry of the interior said "legal procedures" were taken after vandals hurled stones at police forces near the al-Wefaq building.
Yemen
• A life march from Taiz to Sana'a to protest at the immunity deal for outgoing for president Ali Abdullah Saleh is due to arrive in Sana'a today. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council said it expects presidential elections in Yemen to go ahead as scheduled on 21 February and rival parties to honor the deal that Saleh to hand power to his vice president.
1.22pm: Omar Idilbi, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, has added his voice to those questioning the state's account of the Damascus bombings, calling the explosions "very mysterious because they happened in heavily guarded areas that are difficult to be penetrated by a car".
He said:
The presence of the Arab League advance team of observers pushed the regime to give this story in order to scare the committee from moving around Syria. The second message is an attempt to make the Arab League and international public opinion believe that Syria is being subjected to acts of terrorism by members of al-Qaida.
1.10pm: Syria's official news agency says that people have gathered across the country "in condemnation of terrorist attacks":
A huge gathering of citizens on Friday flocked to Saba' Bahrat Square in the capital Damascus in condemnation of the two terrorist attacks which targeted the state security directorate and another security branch in the city and the sabotage and criminal operations committed by the armed terrorist groups.
Crowds of people of the southern province of Sweida streamed into al-Shu'leh Square expressing denunciation of the terrorist attacks in Damascus and their rejection of attempts at foreign interference in the internal affairs of the Syrian people.
1.05pm: Yemeni activist Noon Arabia has produced a Storify account of a "Life March" from Taiz to Sana'a to protest at the immunity deal for President Ali Abdullah Saleh
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
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