Assad forces accused of massacre as children and women killed

IN SYRIA yesterday the partially charred bodies of women and children, some with their throats slit, were found in the Karm al-Zaitoun and al-Adaweya districts of Homs. The killings were said to have taken place on Sunday.

Opposition groups differed on the number of dead: the Local Co-ordination Committees said the number murdered was 45, while the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the toll at 16.

Both groups said the victims, who may include Palestinians, were Sunnis slain by security forces and proregime militiamen known as “shabiha”, who have been blamed for atrocities against civilians and the harsh treatment of protesters.

The government contested the opposition’s version, saying the victims had been killed by kidnappers who had abducted them during the past month. It produced the testimony of relatives who, apparently, identified some bodies.

“The Syrian government has failed to fulfil its responsibility to protect its own people and instead has subjected its citizens in several cities to military assault and disproportionate use of force,” UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said. “These shameful operations continue.”

Activists in Homs and state television showed videos of bloodied bodies, their hands tied behind their backs, lying on littered streets and in blood-spattered rooms. Opposition groups also uploaded videos of corpses being wrapped in white shrouds as crowds lined up to pray for the dead, who are believed to have been killed late on Sunday.

“Killings of civilians must end now,” Arab League-UN envoy Kofi Annan told reporters in Ankara. “The world must send a clear and united message that this is simply unacceptable.”

Government restrictions on media access have made it hard to assess conflicting reports by the authorities and activists of the mass killing.

A medical worker in Homs in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Khalidiya said activists did not find any survivors in the houses where killings took place.

“I saw two females who were raped, one was around 12 or 13 years old. She was covered in blood and her underclothes were off,” said the medic, who called himself Yazan. “One of the women was strangled; she had bruises on her neck. Some of the bodies I saw, especially the children, had their throats slit.”

Activists said militants loyal to president Bashar al-Assad had killed more than 50 in Karm al-Zaitoun. State news said militants committed the killings to influence the UN Security Council’s special meeting yesterday to discuss Arab revolts.

Karm al-Zaitoun is a mixed district of Sunnis, who have demonstrated against the regime, and heterodox Shia Alawites, who belong to the same community as the ruling Assad family and fear Sunni retribution if the regime falls. Communal kidnappings and killings have become commonplace in recent months in the Homs area, as have revenge slayings by both sides.

Opening the UN Security Council meeting yesterday, Mr Ban urged Syria to implement Mr Annan’s proposal, which seeks to end the deadly campaign against protesters and rebels. He called on the divided council to speak with one voice and help Syria to “pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe”.

British foreign secretary William Hague demanded the Syrian army end its offensive against rebels, while French foreign minister Alain Juppé said the Syrian regime would have to answer to the international criminal court for its actions.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton accused Dr Assad of cynically launching new military operations while meeting Mr Annan.

Russia and China have threatened to veto a new US draft resolution. They argue the draft is unbalanced because it does not demand a simultaneous ceasefire by regime and rebels. – (Additional reporting: Reuters)