Nicosia: The death toll from a fresh surge of violence in Syrian flashpoints has risen to 33, rights activists said Wednesday, adding that among the dead are six children and teenagers and five army defectors.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received in Nicosia that 28 civilians were killed on Tuesday by security force gunfire, in addition to the five defectors.
The British rights group had previously given a toll of 17 dead on Tuesday, including five boys in the flashpoint central province of Homs and a 12-year-old in the east.
Civilians killed
Earlier it was reported that Syrian forces loyal to Al Assad killed 21 civilians and five army deserters on Tuesday in a military crackdown on an eight-month uprising against his rule, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Among those killed were four children shot dead by troops near a school in the central region of Houla and a 12-year-old killed at a protest in the eastern city of Deir Al Zor, said the group, which is led by exiled dissident Rami Abdul Rahman.
Four of the deserters were killed when troops stormed a farm they were hiding at near the southern city of Deraa on the border with Jordan. Another deserter was killed in Qusair near the Lebanese border, the group said.
It was not possible to confirm the killings independently. The authorities, who blame the unrest on "armed terrorist groups", have barred most independent media.
