At least 55 people were killed and more than 350 people injured by two powerful blasts in Damascus, Syria, the New York Times reports:
The bombings tore off the front of a nine-story intelligence headquarters and left a grisly scene on the crowded highway in front of it, with incinerated corpses and many burning vehicles emitting plumes of black smoke visible across the capital. Pictures of the gruesome, bloody wreckage with severed body parts scattered about were shown repeatedly on state television and other official media.
