UN calls for verification after 13 die as Syria sends troops back on to streets

SYRIAN security forces fired at thousands of protesters who poured into the streets throughout the country yesterday, killing at least 13 people a day after the United States and its European allies demanded that president Bashar al-Assad step down, activists said.

Soldiers, tanks and armoured personnel carriers were deployed, despite Mr Assad's assurances to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that military and police operations had stopped, according to sources in the country. Harsh statements by president Barack Obama and European leaders also appeared to have no immediate effect.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and the Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activist group, said demonstrations took place in the capital Damascus, the central city of Homs, the southern province of Deraa, the coastal city of Latakia, the eastern city of Deir el-Zour and other areas.

SOHR said five people were killed in the village of Ghabagheb, five in the nearby village of Hirak and one each in Homs and the villages of Inkhil and Nawa. LCC also said that 13 people were killed in different areas, mostly in the south of the country.

It is impossible to independently verify the death toll because Syria has banned foreign reporters and restricted coverage by local media.

Activists posted an unverified amateur video showing two soldiers in uniform slapping and kicking about a dozen detainees inside a bus and forcing them to chant "our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you Bashar," and "God, Syria and Bashar only."

Asked yesterday whether the UN chief believes Mr Assad when he says the violence has stopped, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said: "He believes that any claim that violence has stopped needs to be verified."

"We continue to hear some disturbing reports that we would need to look into.

"We want to be able to verify indeed that violence has stopped. And, of course, for that to happen we would like to have access for our human rights team."

Syria's UN ambassador Bashar Jaafari said a UN humanitarian assessment team would arrive in Damascus on Saturday.

Protests also erupted Thursday night, part of a growing trend of evening protests when security forces tend to thin out. SOHR and the LCC said shootings on Thursday killed one person in a Damascus suburb and another died of his wounds early on Friday in Homs.

Syrian state TV said gunmen shot dead one policeman and wounded four in the Damascus suburb of Harasta while four policemen were wounded in Inkhil yesterday.

"I've seen soldiers walking through the streets of the city," said an SOHR activist in Homs who asked that her name not be mentioned for fear of government reprisals. "But I can't hear gunfire, and I don't believe they are shooting."