Syrian troops shell Houla according to Activists

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops on Thursday shelled the country's central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last week, activists said. At least one person was killed in the latest violence and scores fled in fear of more government attacks.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist groups said government troops unleashed heavy machine guns but also used mortars Thursday in Houla, a collection of poor farming villages in the central Homs province. Both groups said a young man was killed by sniper fire.

Survivors of the Houla massacre have blamed pro-regime gunmen for at least some of carnage that began Friday and left 108 people dead, many of them children and women.

The Syrian government denied its troops were behind the killings and blamed "armed terrorists."

Activists from Houla said government forces on Friday first shelled the area after large demonstrations against the regime earlier in the day. That evening, they said, pro-regime fighters known as shabiha stormed the villages, gunning down men in the streets and stabbing women and children in their homes. Read More