Asia

Asia

At least 6 people killed across Syria amid continuing violence

17 May 2012 23:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. At least six people, including two government soldiers, were killed Thursday in separate incidents across Syria, APA reports quoting SANA.

An armed group targeted a bus carrying law-enforcement members near the focal point province of Homs in central Syria, killing a law-enforcement member and injuring another.

Another law-enforcement member was killed by gunfire from armed men in the central Hama province.

Meanwhile, four Syrian workers were gunned down by unidentified gunmen who broke into the victims’ apartment in Jub al-Safa village near Hama.

Quoting a source in the area, SANA said a terrorist group stormed the house, opened fire and killed the four workers.

Also on Thursday, the authorities raided a hideout used by gunmen in al-Hamra village in the northern Aleppo province, and confiscated assorted weapons and explosive devices.

Syrian Interior Minister Mohammad al-Sha’ar said Thursday that Syria has achieved "a great success in the pursuit of armed terrorist groups."

Sha’ar made the remarks during a graduation ceremony at a police academy in the capital Damascus.

He called on those who were involved in anti-government activities to hand themselves into the police.

Meanwhile, the activists’ network Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said anti-government rallies were staged Thursday in several Syrian cities to protest the alleged shelling by government troops on Damascus’ suburbs of Douma and Daraya.

The LCC said 12 people were killed across Syria Thursday. Their account, however, could not be independently verified.

The ongoing violence in Syria has undermined the work of UN observers who were sent to the country last month to monitor a cease-fire brokered by the international envoy Kofi Annan.

The cease-fire, which went into effect on April 12, has been shaky from the very beginning as mutual mistrust between the government and the opposition has overwhelmed the endeavors to solve the crisis politically.

More than 200 UN observers have been deployed in restive areas to monitor the ceasefire. The number will reach 300 by the end of May, UN official said.

In a recent interview with Russia 24 TV, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad insisted that his government is fighting back against "foreign mercenaries."

"There are foreign mercenaries, some of them still alive," Assad said, "They are being detained and we are preparing to show them to the world."