If it is the work of al-Qaeda, they seem to be more focused on attacking legitimate military targets than simply murdering as many civilians as possible.

To some observers, this raises the question; is it al-Qaeda or some other home grown group?

Reuters:

A car bomb killed nine people at a Syrian military post in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, an attack the government said was the latest proof that an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad was a foreign plot.

The official SANA news agency said the blast had been the work of a suicide bomber, and had also wounded about 100 people, including guards, at what it called military installations.

International pressure and an U.N.-backed peace plan has failed to quell Syria's turmoil. French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday the peace plan still had international backing, but Washington sounded a more aggressive note saying Assad had to leave power.

Syrian state television broadcast footage of smoke rising over Deir al-Zor, pools of blood amid rubble, the damaged facades of buildings and twisted, smoking vehicles.

Opposition activists said the target was an intelligence base.

"It seems like a well-planned attack. The explosion hit the least guarded rear gate of the Military Intelligence complex ... where the operatives keep their cars," said one activist in Deir al-Zor.

State television called the blast part of a campaign funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to topple Assad.

The Sunni-led Gulf powers have called for military help for the Free Syrian Army, a loosely organized force of defecting soldiers and protesters formed in response to Assad's crackdown on what began 14 months ago as a peaceful uprising.

Syrian television said U.N. staff who are supposed to be monitoring an internationally brokered ceasefire, had inspected the site.

The fact that civilians die in these attacks means they can't be excused. There is no "collateral damage" in a car bomb attack unless the explosive is detonated in an area that civilians are not likely to be. This device exploded in front of the base on a busy street and civilians suffered.

It's likely that whoever is setting off these bombs has their own agenda and is not affiliated with a foreign power or the domestic opposition in Syria. If the opposition were smart, they'd not only join in condemning the violence, but also take a public look into any possible affiliations their own people might have with terrorist groups. They don't want to come to power having cooperated with them.