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The embattled Syrian regime, reeling from a suicide bombing in the capital Friday and continued violence in several anti-government bastions, vowed to confront its foes with stern resolve as more than 60 deaths were counted in a bloody day across the nation.

"We will strike with an iron fist any one who tampers with the security of the nation and citizens and we call our citizens to alert any suspicious situation," the Interior Ministry said, according to state media.

The Damascus suicide bombing, the second such strike in the capital in two weeks, took place in the al-Midan quarter of the city. Casualties included mostly civilians and some law enforcement personnel, the Syrian Arab News Agency said. At least 26 people died and at least 63 people were injured, SANA said.

Car and suicide bombings have long been common in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this development in Syria, similar to strikes on government security targets December 23, deepened the fears of full-blown warfare in the troubled nation.

In deadly violence outside Damascus, a daily reality in Syria for months, 35 people were reported killed as security forces confronted protesters in the Damascus suburbs, and the provinces of Homs, Hama, Idlib and Daraa, activists said.

The apparent suicide attack and the clashes across Syria occurred as Arab League monitors are in the country to determine whether the Syrian government is abiding by an agreement to end its 10-month crackdown against protesters.

The Arab League said Friday it will increase the number of monitors in Syria over the next few days to 150 people, from about 100. Many protesters have been disappointed that the monitors' presence has failed to decrease the daily violence.

The news agency said a suicide bomber blew himself up "in a densely populated area" around 10:55 a.m. in a crowded area with traffic, passers-by, shops and residents, near Hassan al-Hakeem Basic Education School. SANA posted grisly photos of the incident's aftermath showing some of the victims, vehicles with shattered windows and pools of blood.

The suicide strike comes a couple of days after the Free Syrian Army -- the force of military defectors fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime -- vowed to kick off "huge operations" against government targets.

SANA quoted an official saying that the initial death toll in the explosion was 11 and that authorities were working to identify 15 others whose remains were found.
No one has claimed responsibility, but one high-ranking Free Syrian Army officer denied blame and said regime forces conducted the blast.

"The explosion in Damascus today is the work of the Syrian intelligence because they had information that a massive protest was planned in the al-Midan district," said Lt. Col. Mohamed Hamado.

"The FSA does not conduct operations of that kind that may kill civilians, and we are in direct contact with Col. Riad al-Asaad, head of FSA, before executing any attack. We have confirmed information that the intelligence is funding and has formed units that perform terrorist operations under names of Islamic extremist groups and issue statements on the Internet, so that the government proves to the West that Islamic extremists are a threat and may take over if the regime is toppled."

Abdel Karim Rihawi, head of the Cairo-based activist group the Syrian Human Rights League, said, "The regime orchestrated the explosion in Damascus, as a fake message to the monitors that there are so-called terrorists conducting operations."

One activist told CNN that the government was looking for an excuse to block off central Damascus as protesters planned to converge on the area. Abu Yassir, a pseudonym for a 22-year-old from the neighborhood, told CNN he was at home a couple of streets away when he heard the blast. He didn't immediately leave the house to see what happened because security forces blocked the area.

Five demonstrations began at various mosques in al-Midan, with at least one of them near the blast.

"Three of them are very big," Yassir said, with thousands of people. He said security forces arrested at least 50 people, including a 10-year-old who was beaten at the time of his arrest.
Al-Midan, he said, is one of the few central Damascus neighborhoods where demonstrations erupted. He said activists have been doubting the scale and the death toll described by the government.

"Bashar al-Assad can't stop us," he said. "Even if he kills us every day, shoots us, arrests too many of us, he can't stop us."

Another witness from al-Midan, an activist who goes by the pseudonym Mar, described a chaotic scene after hearing the blast and said people demonstrated en masse throughout the neighborhood. He said security forces made arrests and shot and wounded people. Mar said pro-government thugs armed with knives and small swords chased protesters.

Every Friday for months, anti-government activists have staged mass demonstrations across Syria, each week having a different theme. This week's theme had the slogan, "In fighting tyranny, belief in God will grant you victory."

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists which collects reports from eyewitnesses and protesters, reported a heavy presence of ambulances and security forces in Damascus, with explosions heard around the area.

The LCC reported anti-government demonstrations, including massive outpourings of protesters in Aleppo and a huge deployment of security forces in other parts of the country. At least 35 people were killed in those demonstrations, the LCC said: 14 in the Damascus suburbs, nine in Hama province, eight in Homs province, three in Idlib province, and one in Daraa province.

The LCC said security forces firing at protesters shot a child in the chest in the city of Deir Ezzor and, in the Damascus suburbs, killed a teenager whose grandfather is a sheikh.

The activist group also reported security forces killed three soldiers in the Homs province town of Rastan "because they refused to fire at peaceful protesters."

An Arab League official who asked not to be named said Friday that residents in Arbeen outside of Damascus encircled monitors Thursday. Security forces fired at crowds and that left the monitors in a "dangerous" situation.

Hamado, who is in charge of FSA operations in the coastal city of Latakia, said the regime is detaining protesters in cargo containers, loading them on ships and transferring them to security headquarters. He said the regime has been detaining women and blackmailing men by saying if they do not turn themselves in the women will be raped. He said the regime crackdown in Latakia is being led by Hafez Munzer al-Assad, the son of the president's first cousin.

"Everything is expensive now," Yassir of al-Midan said about sanctions-plagued Syria. But human life is cheap, he said.

"The humans in here are just like bullets, two Syrian pounds."

Between 5,000 and 6,000 deaths have occurred during the crackdown, according to various accounts. Activists blame the killings on the government crackdown, but al-Assad's government says it is putting down armed terrorists, whom it blames for the bloodshed.

The Friday blast comes two weeks after a pair of powerful car bomb explosions killed at least 44 people in Damascus. The government blamed the strike on terrorists, while opposition forces accused the regime of carrying out the attack to back up its claim of fighting terrorists.
The December 23 strikes on the State Security Directorate and another security branch had the "fingerprints of al Qaeda," the Interior Ministry said. It cited the "modus operandi" and the selection of highly populated areas.

Rihawi of the Syrian Human Rights League notes those bombings and the Damascus blast came on Friday and occurred a day after massive bombings in Iraq, making the Damascus attacks look like the work of terrorists.

CNN cannot independently confirm events inside Syria because the government has restricted activities by international journalists.