Syrian forces meet armed resistance

Syrian troops shelled a town in the centre of the country yesterday - and for the first time in the two-month-old revolt against the president, residents put up fierce resistance with armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, activists said. State media said four soldiers were killed.

Most of the opposition to autocratic president Bashar Assad has taken the form of peaceful protests by unarmed demonstrators, though authorities have claimed the uprising was being led by armed gangs and propelled by foreign conspiracies.

Two activists in the area said residents of Tabliseh and Rastan, two towns under attack in central Homs province since Sunday had taken up arms against troops and members of the security forces and that there were new casualties, though they did not know how many.

The local co-ordination committees in Syria, which help organise and document the protests, said two bodies were found yesterday morning in the area of Bab Amro cemetery, raising the death toll from the two-day crackdown in the country's turbulent heartland to 11.

"The army is facing armed resistance and is not able to enter the two towns," said a Homs resident with connections across the province. "The army is still outside the towns and army vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, were burnt."