The attack, the latest in a spate of assaults on Syrian military and government installations, was claimed by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front.
"Dozens of people were killed in two suicide attacks against the air force intelligence branch in Harasta" late on Monday, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said, referring to a town just Northeast of the capital.
The Al-Nusra Front, which was unknown before the start of the unrests in Syria and now regularly issues statements claiming suicide attacks in Syria, said it was behind the Harasta attack.
The group described a three-phase operation in which a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with nine tons of explosives to the front of the building, and 25 minutes later, another terrorist drove through in a booby-trapped ambulance.
The terrorists then targeted the area with mortars which sparked intense fighting in Harasta between them and the army, according to a statement by Al-Nusra Front.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.
Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.
The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.
In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.
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A branch of al-Qaeda terrorist group in Syria claimed responsibility for the twin blasts at a military base near Damascus by suicide bombers which killed dozens of people on Monday night.
News ID 182988
