Seven shot dead, tanks circle Syria towns: activist
AFP
DAMASCUS- Syrian security forces shot dead seven people and wounded more than 100 in and around Talbisa and Rastan on Sunday after tanks encircled the towns near the central city of Homs, an activist said.
"Two more civilians have been killed at Talbisa and a nearby village, taking the number of dead to seven" in the region, said the activist, who asked not to be named.
Among those killed at Rastan were "a little girl called Hajar al-Khatib," he said.
Another activist, contacted by telephone from Nicosia, said several people were wounded as security forces unleashed "intense gunfire" in Rastan and Talbisa, after tanks sealed off both towns.
"Dozens of tanks at dawn encircled the towns of Rastan and Talbisa," the activist told AFP.
The towns are located between Homs, which is Syria's third-largest city, and Hama, on a stretch of highway north of Damascus that was cut off by tanks during the operation.
Security forces were carrying out searches in Talbisa, where a large crowd took to the streets on Friday for an anti-regime demonstration, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Also on Sunday, Syrian doctor and activist Mohammed Awad al-Ammar was charged with "damaging the prestige of the state and spreading false information," Abdul Rahman told AFP by telephone.
The doctor, who works at a hospital near Daraa, a hotspot of the revolt, was arrested on April 29 shortly after meeting with a high-level military official to propose a "democratic solution" to Syria's political crisis, he said.
On Friday, security forces killed at least 12 protesters in dispersing demonstrations against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to activists.
More than 1,000 people have been killed and 10,000 others arrested since the revolt began, rights groups say. Syrian authorities say 143 soldiers, security forces and police have been killed.
Foreign journalists are barred from travelling inside Syria, making it difficult to report on the unrest and verify witness accounts.
The government insists the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.
It initially responded to the revolt by offering some concessions, including lifting the state of emergency in place for nearly five decades, but coupled this with a fierce crackdown.
The opposition has dismissed calls for dialogue, saying that could only take place once the violence ends, political prisoners are freed and reforms are adopted.
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