Syria: Armed activists 'kill' 120 police and security forces

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 10:18 AM on 7th June 2011

• State TV reports say gunmen killed 82 in single attack
  
• Syrian Government says its Army will intervene

More than 120 members of Syria's police and security forces were left dead after they fought gunmen in clashes with activists, it has emerged.

In what is thought to be the first report of large-scale fighting in the country's revolt, reports on Syrian state television said armed groups had set government buildings on fire in the north western town of Jisr al-Shughour.

It also said activists had stolen five tonnes of dynamite and fired at civilians and security using machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Conflict: Syrian state television has reported that 120 police and security forces have been killed by armed activists. The incident follows bloodshed on Sunday when Palestinian protestors clashed with the Israeli army at Golan Heights (pictured)

Intervention: The Syrian government is said to be sending troops into the town following the deaths. This image was taken during a separate incident in Golan Heights

The bloodshed comes after about 20 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 325 injured on Sunday when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they crossed the border from Syria into occupied territories.

One report on state television about this latest incident said: 'The security forces have managed to end a blockade of one of the neighbourhoods that was seized by the gunmen for a while and are now battling them to end the blockade of the other neighbourhoods.

'The gunmen mutilated some of the bodies and threw some into the river. The people in Jisr al-Shughour are urging the army to intervene speedily.'

Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar said authorities would respond firmly to armed attacks while Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud said army units - which had so far stayed out of the town - 'will carry out their national duty to restore security'.

Opposition activists earlier said a security operation had been under way in the town since Saturday in which they said at least 37 residents and 10 police had been killed.

Authorities have prevented most international media from operating in Syria, making it impossible to verify accounts of the violence from activists and officials.

Protests against President Bashar al-Assad have grown despite reform gestures and a continuing crackdown that has killed at least 1,100 people since the uprising broke out in mid-March.

Bloodshed: Mourners carry the coffin of a Palestinian protester who was killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on Syria's border in a separate incident on Sunday

Uprising: Thousands of people pay tribute to those shot dead on the Syrian border on Sunday. Syria is the latest Arab country to experience a revolt

Residents said the wave of killings in Jisr al-Shughour erupted on Saturday when snipers on the roof of the main post office fired at a funeral for six protesters killed during a demonstration a day earlier.

Angry mourners set fire to the post office after the shooting, said one Jisr al-Shughour resident, a history teacher who gave his name only as Ahmad. State television said eight security members were killed when armed gunmen attacked the post office building.

It said at least 20 security members were killed in an ambush by 'armed gangs', and 82 were killed in an attack on a security post. It said the overall death toll for security forces was over 120.

A rebellion in Jisr al-Shughour in 1980 against President Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, was brutally crushed with scores of deaths.

Stand off: Israeli soldiers on top of a tank near the border between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, a day after deadly clashes there

A town of 50,000 people, it lies on a road between the coastal city of Latakia and Syria's second city of Aleppo, which have seen little protests against Assad so far. The town has a Sunni Muslim majority but activists said there are Alawite and Christian villages in the area.

Rights campaigners say some deaths of soldiers or police during the uprising have been the result of the killing of security forces trying to defect or refusing to obey orders.

One activist, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: 'The story of forces defecting is not true.

'The (police and security members) were killed by gunmen during the operation, they came under fire. Some people in some areas have taken up arms.

'The situation is grave, what is happening is considered an armed rebellion. I oppose violence from whatever side it came from.'

Western powers have intensified their condemnation of Assad as the death toll has grown.

Syrian security forces killed at least 70 protesters on Friday in one of the bloodiest days since the revolt began.

The United States, the European Union and Australia have all imposed sanctions on Syria.