Bombers attack in Syria

BEIRUT – In fresh attacks on symbols of state power, twin suicide bombs exploded Monday near a government security compound in northern Syria and rockets struck the central bank in Damascus, killing nine people and wounding 100.

The regime and the opposition traded blame, accusing each other of dooming a United Nations plan to calm violence that has largely failed so far. The attacks are the latest in a series of suicide bombings that started in December and have mostly targeted Syrian military and intelligence positions.

The regime routinely blames the opposition, which denies having a role or the capability to carry out such attacks. After other similar bombings, U.S. officials suggested al-Qaida militants may be joining the fray, and an al-Qaida-inspired Islamist group has claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Syria.

The powerful blasts, which blew two craters in the ground and ripped the facade off a multistory building, came a day after Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the head of the observer mission, took up his post in Damascus.

Monday’s bombs went off in the northern city of Idlib, an opposition stronghold that government troops recaptured in a military offensive earlier this year. State TV said that many of the nearly 100 wounded were civilians.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. State media blamed “armed terrorists,” a term it uses for rebels trying to topple the government. Activists claimed the regime was behind the bombings to discredit the opposition.