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    December 14, 2011

Rights Activists: Syrian Forces Kill 5 in Hama

   VOA News

   Rights activists say Syrian security forces have opened fire on a car
   in the restive central province of Hama, killing five people.
   The activists said the shootings happened Wednesday near the town of
   Khattab, a day after a surge in deadly violence in Syria.
   The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says loyalist
   forces killed at least 24 people Tuesday, most in Idlib province, where
   an army raid killed 11 civilians.
   The observatory says Syrian army defectors later killed seven
   government security force members while ambushing a patrol.
   Up to eight more civilians were killed Tuesday in a separate incident
   in Idlib when Syrian troops fired on crowds attending funeral
   processions for those killed earlier.
   The United Nations human rights office says it has received credible
   reports from a variety of sources showing the Syrian death toll at more
   than 5,000 since March, when the unrest first began. Syria's U.N.
   ambassador has rejected the figure as "incredible."
   Syria's uprising has turned increasingly violent in recent months, with
   defecting soldiers fighting back against the army and once-peaceful
   protesters taking up arms to protect themselves.
   A general strike continued for a third day Tuesday in several regions
   across Syria as activists push for an end to President Bashar
   al-Assad's rule through a campaign of civil disobedience.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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References

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