Syrian rebels kill 10 women: Report

, Feb 10:

rebels killed 10 women in the central province of Hama Sunday, state media said.

Armed "terrorist" groups carried out killing in the Ma'an town in the northern countryside of the province, Xinhua reported citing Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), adding the rebels attacked the town and committed acts of arson, murder and property destruction.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said radical battalions took control over Ma'an and killed 25 people of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam which the ruling elite in Syria belongs to.

The Observatory said government troops evacuated the civilians from the village ahead of the rebels' attack, adding that most of those killed are members of the pro-government paramilitary National Defense Forces.The country's nearly three-year-old conflict has taken a sectarian shape recently with Al Qaeda-linked groups and other ultra-radical groups fighting to topple the administration of President Bashar al-Assad to establish an Islamic emirate.

IANS