NICOSIA: Syrian security forces shot dead at least 11 people, including a child aged seven, in a "vengeance" raid on the town of Kanaker near Damascus early Wednesday, a human rights activist said.
"The security forces entered homes at dawn on Wednesday and during the operation 11 people were shot dead and more than 250 arrested," said Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights, reached by telephone from Nicosia.
Qurabi provided AFP with the names of the 11 victims.
He said the operation in Kanaker, a town of 25,000 people, was backed by "a bulldozer and army tanks" and targeted people aged between 15 and 40.
He added that at least 11 vehicles were used to carry away those arrested in the swoop.
According to Qurabi, the raid was an "act of vengeance" because inhabitants had supplied provisions to anti-regime protesters in the southern city of Daraa, the main hub of protests against President Bashar Al-Assad’s hardline rule, when it was besieged by troops earlier this year.
Another advocacy group, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in a statement emailed to AFP, named eight people it said were killed in Wednesday’s crackdown in Kanaker.
"The army and the security forces entered Kanaker at dawn and opened fire in the town," the statement said.
"Residents of Kanaker threw stones at the tanks" and erected burning tire barricades in the streets, it added.
According to the Observatory, seven tanks initially were positioned at the west side of town, seven at the main entrance while four entered from the east side along with a bulldozer.
The four tanks later withdrew to the main entrance under a barrage of stones while residents re-erected barricades destroyed by the bulldozer.
The statement added that a number of mosques had been "turned into
civilian hospitals" to treat those injured in the military raid.
The Observatory earlier Wednesday reported that a man was killed on Tuesday at a checkpoint in the Damascus suburb of Harasta and his body later taken to a military hospital.
The authorities have used deadly force to quell dissent, with at least 1,486 civilians reported killed since the uprising began mid-March, thousands arrested and thousands more fleeing the country, human rights groups say.
Some rights groups say at least 12,000 people have been detained since the anti-regime protests erupted, but it is unclear how many are still being held and how many have been released.
