The main Syrian rebel group has claimed responsibilty for a series of explosions in central Damascus near the hotel used by the UN observer mission in Syria.

Abu al-Noor, a spokesperson for the Ahfad Al Rasoul Brigade that has claiming responsibility for the bombing attacks, told Al Jazeera that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had been planning the attacks for a month.

"The operation was targeting the central security command in response to murders perpetrated by the security forces nationwide," he said in a phone interview from Damascus on Wednesday morning.

Syrian state television reported that the blast, in the Abu Remanih area near a military depot and the trade union headquarters, was caused by a bomb planted in a fuel vehicle on Wednesday morning.