Syrian forces kill up to 100 villagers in latest conflict

BEIRUT: Activists said pro-government militia men and security forces killed up to 100 people, including children, in Syria’s central province of Hama yesterday.

Some of those killed in the village of Mazraat al-Qabeer were stabbed to death, the activists said, and at least 12 bodies had been burnt.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said its activists on the ground documented a smaller number of victims – 24 people, four of them children.

Syria’s 15-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule has grown increasingly bloody in recent months, raising concerns that the country may be slipping towards civil war.

Events inside the country are difficult to verify as Syria has restricted access to international media.

The killings came less than two weeks after a massacre in the Syrian town of Houla, in which security forces and proAssad militia men killed 108 people, nearly half of them children. Both have taken place during the presence of a UN observation mission in the country.

The government called the Hama province killings yesterday a “monstrous crime” and said its forces were uprooting militants in the area.

“Special forces are answering the calls for help from residents of Mazraat alQabeer and are raiding the terrorist dens. They have killed a number of them and have seized weapons and rocket-propelled grenades,” it said in a news flash on Syrian state television.

Some activists said rebels from the Free Syrian Army had been operating in the area and accused Syrian forces of using group punishment against Mazraat alQabeer, home to a few hundred villagers and just 20km from Hama.

Syrian forces had surrounded areas close to Mazraat al-Qabeer for days and began shelling the village last night, local activists said.

“The rockets were hitting people’s homes and some were set ablaze. Then the militia men came in and started shooting and killing people,” said a Hama-based activist who called himself Manhal. “The first reports we got were that people were being shot dead. Then some people were found stabbed.”

Activists demanded an international probe by the 300-strong UN force sent into Syria to observe a ceasefire deal brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

The truce was hardly observed by the government or the rebels.

“We call on international monitors to go immediately to the area,” the British-based rights group said in a statement.

“They should not give the excuse that their mission is only to observe the ceasefire, because many massacres have been committed during their presence in Syria.”

Activists in Hama said Mazraat alQabeer’s residents are Sunni Muslims, the country’s majority population that has led the revolt in which the UN estimates about 10 000 people have been killed. – Reuters