Thu, June 07, 2012
At least 86 people, including more than 20 children and 20 women, have been reportedly killed in Hama province.
On Wednesday night representatives of the opposition Syrian National Council said President Assad’s forces had killed more than 100 civilians, including many women and children, in the villages of Qubair and Maarzaf, in what they called a "massacre".
Syrian State TV said troops found some bodies after attacking "terrorists".
Neither account could be confirmed, but it comes less than two weeks after 108 people were killed in Houla.
Witnesses on Wednesday blamed pro-government militiamen, while the government of President Bashar al-Assad accused "armed groups" seeking to trigger foreign military intervention.
Damascus, for its part, insists that the army troops were responding to the locals’ pleas for help against attacks by terrorist groups active in the area. According to an official statement all the terrorists were killed during the operation.
(Agencies)
