Syrian security forces fired on anti-government demonstrations across the country on Friday, killing at least 24 people - including several children - as the regime tries to choke off a 9-month-old uprising, activists said.
Some of the worst violence was reported in Homs, a city in central Syria that has emerged as the epicenter of the revolt against President Bashar Assad.
"The earth was shaking," a Homs resident told The Associated Press by telephone, saying explosions and cracks of gunfire erupted in the early morning. "Armored personnel carriers drove through the streets and opened fire randomly with heavy machine guns."
Despite the relentless bloodshed, Assad has refused to buckle to the pressure to step down and has shown no signs of easing his crackdown. The United Nations estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed in the military assault on dissent since March.
People are also reading…
In New York, the U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay pressed Syria to let observers enter the country.
"Almost 1,000 of President Assad's security forces have also been killed in this conflict," Pillay said. "This is why I am alerting the world that as you have more and more defectors from the security forces, this may well develop into a fully fledged civil war."
Two boys, ages 10 and 12, were hit by stray bullets Friday near government checkpoints in Homs, according to activists. At least two other young teenagers were killed elsewhere, the activists said.
Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the 10-year-old was shot as he crossed the street in the Bab Sbaaa neighborhood. The 12-year-old was struck as he walked in a crowd exiting a mosque, Abdul-Rahman said.
Anti-government demonstrations traditionally peak after Friday's midday prayers, although witnesses say there appeared to be a concerted effort to prevent any gatherings this week. Troops were deployed heavily and, in many cases, locked down areas before prayers even began.
An activist coalition called the Local Coordinating Committees said up to 35 were killed Friday, most of them in Homs. The Britain-based Observatory had a death count of 24. Casualty tolls are difficult to compile in Syria, where the government has prevented independent reporting and where violence often prevents activists from counting the dead.
