Eight killed as Syrian forces step up raids

Syrian security forces killed at least eight civilians yesterday in raids on restive north-western towns, residents and activists said.

The civilian deaths were reported in rural Hama and the adjacent province of Idlib, both areas that have seen intensified raids and arrests of people involved in popular unrest since last week’s defection of Hama’s attorney general.

Activists said the authorities suspected that dissident judge Adnan Bakkour was in hiding in the countryside around Hama.

A local activist said hundreds of security men were conducting house-to-house searches in villages around Mr Bakkour’s home town of Kfar Banouza and arresting scores of people.

Mr Bakkour, who according to the authorities was kidnapped by gunmen last Monday, has said in a statement broadcast via YouTube that he had resigned because security forces had killed 72 jailed protesters and activists at Hama’s central prison on the eve of a military assault on the city on July 31. He said at least another 420 people were killed in the operation and were buried in public parks.

Two residents contacted in Hama province said busloads of security forces had gone to Khan Sheihkon, a town 30 miles north of Hama, searching for scores of army deserters.

Most army conscripts are from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and many come from rural areas shaken by military efforts to crush six months of protests against the country’s president.