Syria Uprising: More than 100 Killed Monday?
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Hemera/Thinkstock(DAMASCUS) — On the same day that Syria signed a deal to allow Arab League observers into the country, activist groups are reporting that more than 100 people were killed. If their estimate proves to be accurate, Monday would be one of the bloodiest days in the nine-month uprising.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – based on one eyewitness account — said that 60-70 would-be defectors were mowed down by machine gun fire as they fled their posts in the northern Idlib province; another group, the Syrian Revolution General Commission told the BBC that that number was 72. Activists say another 30-40 civilians were killed across the country on Monday.
The Syrian government has not responded to these claims.
Here is the statement from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:
A defected soldier has told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that dozens of defected soldiers were killed today in gunfire by machine guns. They were killed while trying to run away from their military positions on the way between the villages of Kensafra and Kefer Quaid, in Zawyia Mountain, in Idlib district. He added that the Syrian authorities have dragged the bodies of the soldiers. The defected soldier who was wounded himself said that almost 60-70 soldiers were killed.
The death toll of civilians for today Monday 19 December 2011 has risen to 40 martyrs for whom we have their identity records and circumstances of death. 11 people were killed in Daraa and another 9 in Idlib including 2 children. Also, 3 people were fallen martyrs in the neighbourhood of Al-Meedan in Damascus, 3 martyrs were fallen in Deir Ezzor and 13 in Homs. And a person was killed in Hama under torture.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio