Activists say Syrian troops kill at least 52

BEIRUT (AP):

Syrian forces intensified their crackdown on an eastern city yesterday as they try to keep the anti-government uprising from escalating during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The assault and similar operations in at least two other towns killed at least 52 people, according to human-rights groups, and the toll looked likely to rise.

The worst violence was in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour, where troops stepped up a siege that had already been going on for days. At least 42 people were killed in a raid on the city that began before dawn, said Abdul-Karim Rihawi, the Damascus-based chief of the Syrian Human Rights League and Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria.

Amateur video posted online by activists showed what it said were parts of Deir el-Zour with the sound of heavy cracks of gunfire and prayers blaring from loudspeakers. Another video showed Syrian troops on a hill as they positioned an anti-aircraft gun. An activist in the city told The Associated Press the military attacked before dawn from four sides and took control of eight neighbourhoods.

"Humanitarian conditions in the city are very bad because it has been under siege for nine days," the activist said, on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "There is lack of medicine, baby formula, food and gasolene. The city is totally paralysed."