Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. October 19, 2011 6 Killed in Syrian Unrest VOA News Syrian activists say pro-government forces have opened fire on civilians, leaving at least six people dead. The activists say the deaths occurred on Wednesday in Syria's central Qusseir region and the nearby opposition stronghold of Homs, where security forces and armed dissidents have been clashing since Monday. More than 25 people have been killed in the unrest in the Homs region over the past three days. Meanwhile, Syrian state media reports say supporters of President Bashar al-Assad turned out for rallies in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo on Wednesday. Earlier this week, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged Assad to end the killings of civilians and accept an international inquiry into allegations of human rights abuses. The U.N. says more than 3,000 people have been killed since anti-government protests began in Syria seven months ago. Syrian authorities have blamed much of the country's violence on gunmen or what they call terrorist groups. Some information for this report was provided by AFP. Follow our Middle East reports on [1]Twitter and discuss them on our [2]Facebook page. References 1. http://twitter.com/VOAMiddleEast 2. http://www.facebook.com/pages/VOAMiddleEastVoices/124360240958667?%20%20%20%20v=wall .