Syria says 13 killed in flashpoint city of Homs

DAMASCUS: Eight Syrian soldiers and five "insurgents" were killed Wednesday in the flashpoint central city of Homs, the official Sana news agency reported.

The agency said "dozens" of soldiers were wounded by "armed terrorists who attacked civilians and security forces" across the city.

"Security forces succeeded in eliminating them and five of the armed criminals were killed," Sana said, adding that several arrests had been made.

It said there was an "anti-tank missile strike against the hospital in Homs," and another near Homs where an armed group ambushed and attacked a military truck.

Activists meanwhile said regime forces killed at least 21 people in a tank-backed raid in Homs.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 23 deaths nationwide, including 21 people in Homs and two in Sarmeen, in Idlib province in the northwest.

The Local Coordination Committees (LCC), which organises the anti-regime protests on the ground, said security forces also killed one person in the central city of Hama.

The United Nations says 2,200 people have been killed since democracy protests flared in Syria in mid-March.

In Homs, security forces used "gunfire and stun grenades to terrorise the people near the police headquarters around the citadel," the LCC said in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia.

The activists said forces backed by tanks swept into Homs, where communications and Internet services were cut in many neighbourhoods.

The Syrian Observatory said "military reinforcements including 20 truckloads of soldiers entered the city," and that there was "intense gunfire in the market and governorate headquarters."

The deadly crackdown came only hours after Syria said it was postponing a planned visit to Damascus by the head of the Arab League. (AFP)