The InfoStride Forum

Syria's state-run news agency says two blasts in the northwest city of Idlib have killed at least eight people and caused serious damage.

SANA said civilians and security agents were among those killed in Monday's bombings.

[/table] State media has blamed the attacks on "armed terrorists,'' a term it uses to describe those trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

Activists said the explosions went off outside a security compound and near a hotel where UN observers were staying.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 20 people were killed in the blasts.

The majority of those killed were members of the security forces, the UK-based group said.

A powerful blast, probably a car bomb, was also reported near the capital Damascus, causing casualties, the observatory added.

'Strong explosion'

"A strong explosion shook the suburbs of Qudsiya and it appears it was a car bomb," it said. "Initial reports indicate there are casualties."

Al Jazeera is unable to independently verify reports of violence, as the Syrian government has placed strict restrictions on reporting.

Another monitoring group, the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), confirmed that they had received reports "of several suspicious explosions in or near several government buildings, including the official state media and television office; a security center in Rukneddine; and the Central Bank building in Sabaa Bahrat Square" early on Monday.

State television said monitors from the United Nations team sent in to oversee the 18-day-old ceasefire were visiting the scene in Idlib.

[/table] Syrian foreign ministry spokesperson Jihad Makdissi, said the head of the UN monitoring mission, Norwegian general Robert Mood, was being briefed on "violations by armed opposition".

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said activists also confirmed that "two huge explosions took place [in Idlib] near two security buildings, one which belongs to the airforce intelligence, and the other to the military security.

"Now we have seen in the past two weeks an escalation in the bombings and targeting of the security officers and security buildings, the government has been blaming al-Qaeda for these attacks and they want to make sure this narrative overruns any other narrative.

"What we are hearing from the activists again is blaming the government in order to fortify and strengthen that kind of argument. So again, they are accusing each other, but on the ground it is an escalation."

The blasts took place in spite of a UN-backed ceasefire that came into effect on April 12 but has failed to stop the violence.

Veteran peacekeeper Major General Robert Mood urged all sides on Sunday to abide by the ceasefire as he arrived in Damascus to take command of the UN military observer mission overseeing the truce.

The peace plan arranged by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan calls for a commitment to stop all armed violence, a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire, media access to all areas affected by the fighting, an inclusive Syrian-led political process, a right to demonstrate and the release of arbitrarily detained people.

'Huge task'

UN ceasefire monitors are gradually arriving in Syria, with 30 out of a planned 300 now on the ground. Their Norwegian

commander, Mood, a veteran of previous Middle Eastern peace missions, acknowledged the huge task awaiting the unarmed mission but said he was confident it could make headway.

[/table] "We will be only 300 but we can make a difference," he told reporters on his arrival in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

"Thirty unarmed observers, 300 unarmed observers, even 1,000 unarmed observers cannot solve all the problems," he said.

Joseph Kechichian, a Middle East analyst, told Al Jazeera: "Since April 12, when the ceasefire was supposed to come into effect, almost 500 people have been killed on both sides in Syria ... the presence of the UN observers is not making any difference whatsoever."

An activist in the restive central city of Homs, speaking via Skype, told the Reuters news agency violence had dropped sharply since the observers deployed a permanent two-man team there last week.

"There are still violations but the shelling and mortar fire has stopped," Karam Abu Rabea said. "We have insisted that the observers stay in Homs because we know if they leave [the attacks] will continue."

Despite the relative calm in Homs, activists said at last 39 people were killed across the country on Sunday, including

civilians, security forces and opposition fighters.

Al Jazeera