Gunfire erupted after prayers in the southern city of Dara’a on Friday as security forces across Syria moved to counter a third week of protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad..
There were conflicting reports of the number of dead in the town as well as who was shooting.
Wissam Tarif, director of a Syrian human rights group, said a doctor and medical student in Dara’a told him that 18 protesters had been killed in the clashes. Nine were shot in the head, he said. A Facebook group monitored by human rights activists in Syria said 24 had been killed in Dara’a and another 20 wounded.
Syrian state media said it was 19 security officers who had been killed and blamed gunmen who “opened fire on a group of citizens, security forces and police as worshippers left Friday prayer.” But video footage reportedly from Dara’a showed several dead and wounded men, none in uniforms.
The clash began as security forces on the bridge tried to keep two groups of protesters from joining together, the resident said. Chants of “Peaceful, peaceful!” rose through clouds of tear gas and the sounds of gunfire.
In a separate incident, state television reported that unidentified gunmen opened fire on an ambulance as it transported an injured man to the hospital in Dara’a, killing the driver.
More than 10,000 protesters took to the streets of several cities, including the capital, Damascus, and a suburb where at least 15 protesters were killed last Friday in clashes with security forces. Protest organizers had called for demonstrations against Mr. Assad’s administration in several provinces in what they dubbed a “Friday of Steadfastness.”
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