Monday, May 28, 2012

Syria army bombardment of city of Hama has killed at least 41 people in last 24 hours say opposition - @Reuters

AMMAN: The Syrian army's bombardment of the city of Hama has killed at least 41 people in the past 24 hours, an opposition group in the city said on Monday.

Syrian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles opened fire on several neighborhoods of Hama on Sunday after a series of attacks by rebel Free Syrian Army fighters on roadblocks and other positions manned by President Bashar Assad's forces, opposition sources said.

The dead included five women and eight children, the Hama Revolution Leadership Council said in a statement.

"Tank shelling brought down several buildings. Their inhabitants were pulled out from the rubble and many are in a critical condition," the statement said.

The report could not be independently verified.

The U.N. Security Council on Sunday condemned the killing of at least 108 people, many of them children, in the town of Houla, amid mounting world outrage at the massacre, which the Syrian government and rebels blamed on each other.

The images of the bloodied bodies of children triggered shock around the world and underlined the failure of a six-week-old ceasefire plan to stop the violence in the 14-month uprising against Assad's rule.