Syrian security forces opened fire at a funeral procession Tuesday, killing at least 10 people in a city that has been besieged for days by some of the most serious violence seen during the country’s four-month-old uprising, activists said.

Tuesday’s killings bring the death toll in Homs to about 50 people since Saturday, according to a range of activists, human rights groups and witnesses. Syria has banned independent media coverage, making it difficult to accounts from witnesses or Syrian authorities.

Syrian security forces opened fire at a funeral procession Tuesday, killing at least 10 people in a city that has been besieged for days by some of the most serious violence seen during the country’s four-month-old uprising, activists said.

Tuesday’s killings bring the death toll in Homs to about 50 people since Saturday, according to a range of activists, human rights groups and witnesses. Syria has banned independent media coverage, making it difficult to accounts from witnesses or Syrian authorities.

A mother of one of the men being buried was believed to be among the victims.

Syrian troops have been conducting operations in Homs since late Monday following reports of a wave of sectarian killings that left some 30 people dead over the weekend.

Syria has been trying to crush a four-month-old uprising that has posed the gravest challenge to the 40-year ruling dynasty of the Assad family.

Human rights groups say more than 1,600 people, most of them unarmed civilians, have been killed in President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on a largely peaceful protest movement.

The government disputes that toll and blames the unrest on gunmen and religious extremists looking to stir up sectarian strife.
Forbes