Syrian forces kill at least 14: activists

NICOSIA: At least 14 people, four of them children, were killed when Syrian security forces opened fire in several cities on Friday, with most of the victims who fall in the restive region of Homes, activists said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 civilians were killed around Homs, two in Daraa, cradle of the protests against the regime since March, a civilian in Hama and one in Douma, near Damascus. Twenty-three civilians were wounded in Homs, he said.

The Syrian opposition National Council earlier warned of the dangers of a "slaughter" in the center of the protest of Homs, a city in central Syria, said he was surrounded by government forces.

Two children, aged between 10 and 12, were shot dead in nine different districts of Homs itself, and a 14 year old boy was fatally injured in aqrab near the Observatory based in Britain, said in a statement. He said 19 people were arrested in Hula, also in the province of Homs.

One civilian died in Hama as security officials opened fire to disperse a protest near the mosque Mustafa Jaber, said, while a woman and a girl 12 years old, were shot dead by "indiscriminate firing" in Daraa.

The rights body said a man died in a similar incident in Douma, whose streets were the scene said "the violent clashes between a group of deserters and security officers."