At least 53 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in a car bombing near Syria's ruling Baath party headquarters in downtown Damascus. That's according to Syria's state media. Opposition activists put the death toll at 59.

Damascus car bomb kills at least 53.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry accused armed groups affiliated with al-Qaida of being behind the explosion. Syrian state television says the explosion occurred in the Mazraa district of the capital, calling it a "terrorist" attack by a suicide bomber on a heavily populated area. The attack was followed by gunfire, which could be heard coming from the area, as a big black cloud rose there into the sky.

The Britain-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says most of the dead were civilians, but that members of the Syrian security services were also killed. Witnesses and opposition activists say the explosion targeted a security checkpoint in Mazraa district.