Syria violence kills at least 52 people: NGO

Beirut, Feb 23: At least 52 people, most of them civilians, were killed in violence across Syria on Thursday, including 13 members of one family, a monitoring group said.

The death toll included 16 members of security forces across the country, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Thirteen members of one family and another civilian were killed in an attack by security forces on the village of Kafar al-Ton, in central Hama province, the Observatory said.

In the same province, four civilians including a four-year-old girl were killed in the village of Sawine, and a 12-year-old boy died in Morik.

Eight soldiers were also killed in the region during clashes with army defectors in the villages of Mharadeh and Sakailabiya.

Overnight, an eight-year-old was killed when troops opened fire in the village of Ming in northern Aleppo province, the Observatory said.

It also said that nine people including a five-year-old child were shot dead as security forces stormed Tareeq al-Sad neighbourhood of the southern city of Daraa, cradle of the revolt that first erupted in March 2011.

Five soldiers were killed in clashes in the same city.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, a civilian was killed in the city of Jisr al-Shughur, while another was killed in the town of Maaret al-Numan.

Three soldiers were killed in a bomb blast at the southern entrance to Idlib city in the northwest.

A 19-year-old man was shot dead as police opened fire to disperse a protest in the town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus.

And in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, five people including an army deserter were killed in gunfire as security forces stormed the town of Al-Kharita, the Observatory said.

More than 7,600 people have been killed so far in the unrest, according to the Observatory

PTI