Updated on
Summary Syrian security forces shot dead at least 9 villagers they had stopped at a roadblock of Homs.
A YouTube video distributed by activists opposed to President Bashar al-Assad purportedly showed several bodies, gagged and with their hands tied behind their backs, near the village of Kfar Laha in the Houla region, a hotbed of pro-democracy protests and a nascent armed insurgency against Assad.Their killing follows reports by an activist in Homs, and on pro-Assad social network pages, that nine members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect had been dragged from a bus and killed by gunmen near Homs on Tuesday. The nine people killed on Wednesday were all Sunni Muslims, who form the majority of Syria’s population. “They were workers at a small building blocks factory. The exact time of their death is not known, but it appears it was this morning,” Ahmad Fouad, an activist in Homs.The United Nations says more than 3,000 people have been killed in Assads crackdown on an uprising which erupted in March against his rule, inspired by revolutions which have toppled three Arab leaders this year.Authorities blame militants who they say are armed and financed from abroad, saying they have killed 1,100 members of the security forces. Syria has barred most foreign media, making it hard to verify accounts from activists and officials.
Featured
