Syria Says 120 Police Killed by 'Armed Gangs' in Jisr Shughour
Some 120 Syrian police officers taking part in security operations alongside the army in the northwest were killed by "armed gangs" in the town of Jisr Shugour on Monday, state-run news agency SANA quoted a Syrian official as saying.
"The armed groups are committing a veritable massacre. They have mutilated bodies and thrown others into the Assi river," state television reported earlier. "They have burned government buildings."
"Armed gangs ambushed police who were on their way to rescue citizens being terrorized" by these gangs, it added.
The report said groups are armed with "medium weapons, grenades and are using residents as human shields."
Elsewhere, "eight guards at a post office were also killed by armed gangs, who used the building's gas pipes to blow it up," it added.
Two activists who spoke to Agence France Presse disputed the official version of events, saying the town was calm on Monday.
They spoke of a mutiny at a local security headquarters, where shooting was heard on Sunday.
"I think they executed policemen who refused to open fire on demonstrators. There was a mutiny in the security service," one activist said.
The other told AFP that "shooting followed by an explosion was heard in the military HQ, apparently after a mutiny."
He said regime "snipers" had opened fire on protesters in the town, killing two. Demonstrators then gathered outside the headquarters and "shots and an explosion took place inside" the building, he said.
The state television report said: "The police and security agents are confronting hundreds of armed men. They have managed to liberate one district controlled by gunmen" in Jisr Shughour.
It said residents of the town, 330 kilometers north of Damascus, had "pleaded for help and the rapid intervention of the army."
Violence across Syria on Sunday left at least 40 people dead, including 35 in Jisr Shughour, Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Agence France Presse on Monday.
Thirty-five people -- 27 civilians and eight security agents -- were killed in Jisr Shughour as military and security forces continued operations against anti-regime protesters in northwestern Idlib province.
Further north, in the town of Idlib, security forces scattered some 1,500 demonstrators, he said.
Two civilians were also reported killed in the Mediterranean coastal town of Jabla when security forces opened fire to disperse demonstrators calling for the release of a detained sheikh.
In the eastern town of Deir Ezzor, security forces shot at protesters marching in front of a building of the ruling Baath party, killing three of them, Abdul Rahman said.
On Sunday, security forces returned the body of a man kept in custody for a month to his parents in the Damascus suburb of Douma.
Six human rights groups within Syria on Monday issued a joint statement condemning "the excessive use of force to disperse peaceful gatherings of unarmed Syrian citizens."
The groups call on the government to "stop the spiral of violence and assassinations in the streets of Syria."
They also demanded an independent and transparent commission of inquiry "to unmask those responsible for the violence."
Rights groups say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in Syria since protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad erupted in mid-March.
Damascus insists the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.
almost 13 years
cracks in the army are beginning:the shabiha and moukhabarat are killing the "suspected elements"in the armed forces.bloodier and bloodier.
almost 13 years
Based on the Syrian Revolution Facebook Page, they decided last week to start escalating the confrontation and defend themselves... Of course, where would be the limit?
I am surprised the Syrian Army is still intact!
almost 13 years
When this story first broke the official number of dead was twenty, then it quickly escalated to forty then ballooned to eighty, mind you this was as reported by SANA and Syrian TV about the same alleged attack on the same police convoy. Casualty numbers don't behave this way especial not after the event has taken place, usually there are additional one, two or ten unaccounted for added to the initial tally but not sixty, gimme a break. I suggest you take this report with a grain of salt and lots of pepper.
almost 13 years
haaahahahahahahah what a joke... these people truely think we beleive their crap....
almost 13 years
How long can we hear such nonsense without reacting?
Whenever they want to clampdown on a town, they announce that policemen have been killed and that the peoplecare asking for the army to intervene to protect them... And they send the tanks.
They declare that they are fighting the terrorists. We wonder whether thecterrorists are the ones who are shooting at the crowds and torturing 13 year old kids...
almost 13 years
OMG now it's 120 the guys in charge of propaganda in Syria must be a bunch of imbeciles trying to pull something like that.
almost 13 years
Le fini, fancy finding you here worried about Assad like that. Tell me fini were you already with the Syrian army when this happened, .. Aoun: "By the way, I remind you here that the Syrian regime had said that it came to Lebanon to save its Christians from extermination. I want to ask this regime who, apart from it, in fact wanted to exterminate us?" .. did you participate in the Syrians attempts to exterminate the Christians?
almost 13 years
Zero credibility... official story is full of holes. If true, more evidence would've be shown. Poor attempt at lying to the international media from a regime in crisis and in panic. Pretty soon Assad will sound deliric, like Khadafi, one moment blaming Kaeda the other the Salibyoun... all tyrants end with a bang!
almost 13 years
Syria will go through extremely difficult time before transformation takes hold. The regime still has valuable assets they can use both militarily and politically speaking. But one thing is for sure, Syria will see the light at the end of the tunnel. A democratic regime with full respect of Human Rights is what we wish for. When we reach that stage, Lebanon will be in much less danger and the area as a whole will experience tranquility and real progress..
almost 13 years
burn baby burn - like you burned Lebanon and killed Bashir, Gebran, Rafik, etc.. Those Lebanese who stand with this regime have no dignity.
almost 13 years
Arz10452 haha my tunes exactly burn all you dirty filthy grubs.Thank you
The same people that killed our soldiers and police men in Naher el Bared , are killing the Syrian police men and army soldiers and officers in Syria .
These fanatics racists fundamentalists Salafis Sunnis Wahhabies are equipped and financed by KSA and some very well known political parties in Lebanon , that are related directly to KSA .!
The Syrian Alaouite Régime will crush them and will prevail , like we did in Neher el Bared and all over Lebanon with their help .