Massacre in Homs as rescue bid fails
BEIRUT: Activist groups claimed at least 64 people had been killed in a “massacre” at a checkpoint in the Syria’s central warzone Homs as they tried to flee the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr late Sunday night.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 68 bodies had been delivered to a public hospital in Homs Monday morning, bearing gunshot and knife wounds. The Observatory’s Rami Abdul-Rahman said he had received information indicating that the victims had been residents displaced from the city of Homs who came under attack by armed Assad supporters at a rural area between the villages of Ram al-Enz and Ghajariyeh.
In a statement, Avaaz said at least 62 men had been killed and their wives and children taken while trying to flee the besieged neighborhood of Baba Amr, Homs, Sunday night. It said the men’s bodies had been dumped between two pro-Assad villages, Altanona and Marj Alqta. One of the men had survived, and attempted to seek refuge in one of the villages, only for the men of the village to hand him over to the security forces. The bodies were taken to the Homs National Hospital.
An activist on the ground told The Daily Star the families had been targeted because they were from Baba Amr, which has been under heavy siege by Syrian forces since Feb. 4. “They were killed because they are from Baba Amr,” said one activist, citing a witness.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Feb-28/164879-massacre-in-homs-as-rescue-bid-fails.ashx#ixzz1ne3lp4WU
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)