11 killed in anti-government protests in Syria

Sep 3, 2011, 15:56 GMT

Beirut/Cairo - At least 11 people were killed Saturday as the Syrian government stepped up its internationally condemned clampdown on pro-democracy protesters, according to opposition activists.

Syrian security forces randomly shot at people in the Baba Amr area of the central province of Homs, they said.

'As protesters were taking the streets, security forces started shooting ... killing at least four protesters and wounding 10 others,' activists based in Lebanon told the German Press Agency dpa.

Also in Homs, more than 1,500 people protested in the streets of Qasir area, chanting: 'The people want to execute the president.'

The demonstration came after security forces delivered the body of a young man to his parents.

He was recently detained in Qasir, and his body had signs of torture, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said on its Facebook page.

Meanwhile, security forces mounted a wide-scale crackdown in the restive city of Hama and were searching for for the city's dissident attorney general, the broadcaster Al Arabiya quoted an activist identified as Ali Hassan as saying.

'The security forces killed a number of civilians and detained dozens,' Hassan claimed.

Hama's Attorney General Mohammed Adnan al-Bakour said in a video posted on YouTube Wednesday that he had resigned in protest at the killing of hundreds and the arrest of thousands by the Syrian government.

Syrian officials have said Bakkour was kidnapped and made the announcement under kidnappers' threats.

Also on Saturday, security personnel raided the areas of Bayyada and Deir Baala in Homs and made mass arrests, activists added.

Two more people were killed Saturday when security forces raided the town of Maarat Harma in Homs, the activists added.

In the Damascus suburban area, 20,000 people took part in a funeral procession for those killed in the area Friday.

At least 23 people were killed on Friday, as security used force to disperse protesters across the nation who took to the streets to pressure the regime of President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Syria's state television, however, reported that security forces killed two armed men after coming under attack in the town of Talbisa in Homs.

Three troops were killed by 'armed terrorist groups who attacked them in Talbisa, Erbeen and Hammuriyeh,' according to the state-run news agency SANA.

It said four assailants were killed in the confrontations, while an army captain was kidnapped in the northern-west province of Idleb bordering Turkey.

Activists based in Lebanon said the captain had defected from the army, but authorities were refusing to admit that some of the military forces were defecting into the ranks of the opposition.

Information from Syria is difficult to verify because foreign journalists and human rights organizations have been barred from the country.

At least 2,200 people, including 391 security personnel, have been killed since the protests began in mid-March, according to human rights advocates.