Twenty-five people were killed and 175 people were wounded in two blasts targeting security bases in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Friday.

Earlier it was reported the exposions had killed 11 people — soldiers and civilians. Some children were also reported killed in the attack.

“Civilians and members of the military were martyred and wounded in the terrorist explosions that targeted Aleppo,” Syrian state television reported, adding the attacks targeted a branch of military intelligence and a security force base.

The north has been a hot zone for several months as insurgents from the Syrian Free Army, which has staged numerous deadly attacks on government forces, battle with the regime.

SFA fighters are mostly organized army defectors armed with light infantry weapons who primarily conduct hit and run raids, and coordinated ambushes, targeting security forces.

They have not been known to conduct coordinated bombings in public areas where large numbers of civilian casualities could occur thus far.

Coordinated twin-bombings are a trademark of Sunni terror groups, especially Al-Qaeda, who are said to be taking advantage of the unrest in Syria.

On December 23, suicide car bombers struck Damascus in what was then the bloodiest violence in the capital since the revolt against Al-Assad began.

At least 44 people were killed then and the government blamed Al-Qaeda for the attack, which took place one day after the arrival of an Arab League observer mission.

On January 6, a suicide bomber killed 26 people and wounded 63 in Damascus. Syria’s Interior Minister Ibrahim al-Shaar vowed an “iron-fist response” to the attack.

The attacks come as Al-Assad’s regime continues to pound the focal protest city of Homs for the seventh day in a row. Some 400 civilians are believed to have been killed in what are the bloodiest days of the president’s nearly-year-long crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

UN Human Rights officials say at least 5,400 have been killed by Assad loyalists, but stopped counting in early January due to the instability and chaos on the country. Current estimates by human rights activists exceed 6,000 deaths.

Assad’s regime say some 2,000 security personnel have been killed by “terrorists” as well.

On Friday, it was reported Al-Assad sent his mother and children, as well as the children of key regime figures, out of the country in what is taken as a sign of his regime’s acknowledgement of its increasing weakness.

Aleppo, Syria’s main commercial hub, had been relatively quiet during the 11-month uprising, but has seen increasing protests and violence in recent weeks.