AMMAN – Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad killed 13 people in attacks in the city of Homs yesterday, residents said, an escalation of a crackdown against a focal point for pro-democracy protests.
Among those killed were three mourners at a funeral for 10 people who were killed by security forces on Monday, the Local Co-ordinations Committee, an activists group, said.
“We could not bury the martyrs at the city’s main cemetery so we opted for a smaller cemetery near the mosque, when the militiamen began firing at us from their cars,” one mourner, who gave his name as Abdallah, told Reuters by telephone. He said the bodies had been taken to Khaled Ibn al-Walid mosque in the eastern Khalidiya district of the city.
“Khalidiya is totally besieged by the military. We are cut off from the rest of Homs as if we are a separate country.”
Homs has been a major centre of protests against Assad’s rule. Tension has run high between Sunni inhabitants and members of the Assad’s Alawite minority. – (Reuters)