Fifteen shot dead as Syrian police besiege protesters

Published on Wednesday 23 March 2011 15:13

Syrian police launched an onslaught yesterday on an area sheltering anti-government protesters, killing at least 15 in an operation that lasted nearly 24 hours, witnesses said.

At least six people were killed in a pre-dawn attack on the al-Omari mosque in the southern city of Daraa, where protesters have taken to the streets in calls for reforms and political freedoms, witnesses said. An activist in contact with people in Daraa said police shot another three people protesting in its city centre after dusk. Six more bodies were found later.

The uprising in Daraa and nearby villages has become the biggest domestic challenge since the 1970s to the Syrian government.

President Bashar al-Assad's security forces have responded with water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. The total death toll now stands at 22.

As the casualties mounted, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Jasim, Khirbet Ghazaleh and al-Harrah tried to march on Daraa last night but security forces opened fire as they approached, the activist said.

Democracy activists used social-networking sites to call for massive demonstrations across the country tomorrow, a day of prayer for Muslims

State TV said an "armed gang" had attacked an ambulance in the city and security forces killed four attackers and wounded others. It denied that security forces had stormed the mosque, but also showed footage of weapons and money it claimed had been seized from inside.