Syria's state media Sunday said that groups linked to al-Qaeda were behind the massacre in the town of Houla where UN observers confirmed that 92 people, including 32 children, died, DPA reported.
"Terrorist groups from al-Qaeda committed two heinous massacres against families in the countryside of Homs (in central Syria)," the state news agency SANA said, quoting an unnamed official in the area.
The official added that the groups had also torched the residents' houses and crops, and damaged a local hospital.