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Protests in Syria as army attacks town near Turkish border

Arab World Materials 19 June 2011 00:06 (UTC +04:00)
Syrian troops attacked the northern town of Bdama on Saturday as protesters took to the streets rallying against President Bashar al-Assad and his regime, dpa reported.
Protests in Syria as army attacks town near Turkish border

Syrian troops attacked the northern town of Bdama on Saturday as protesters took to the streets rallying against President Bashar al-Assad and his regime, dpa reported.

Troops backed by tanks and firing heavy machine guns stormed the town, located near the Turkish border, the opposition group Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

Army forces were firing randomly at houses and besieged the town, the group added.

Activists said online that heavy gunfire injured 20 people.

The attack on Bdama is the latest in a series of intensified army operations in the north-western province of Idlib to crack down on anti-government protesters.

The army attacked the town of Maaret al-Numan on Friday and swept into Jisr al-Shaghur earlier this month, forcing some 10,000 Syrians to flee across the border into Turkey in recent days to escape the violent military crackdown.

Syrian rights groups say over 1,300 civilians and more than 300 soldiers and police have been killed since the uprising calling for greater freedoms, reform and the ouster of al-Assad began in March.

The death toll is difficult to verify as the government has banned the entry of foreign journalists and international human rights groups. More than 10,000 people have been detained.

Over 7,000 marched from al-Noor mosque in the city of Homs in a funeral procession for some of those killed on Friday when security opened fire to disperse protesters.

In the capital, people also took to the streets in Douma district mourning another demonstrator.

Another demonstration took place in the town of Hasrata, which lies in the Damascus countryside.

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