DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed at least six people today in an attack on the Omari mosque in the southern city of Deraa, site of six days of unprecedented protests challenging Baath Party rule, residents said.
Those killed included Ali Ghassab al-Mahamid, a doctor from a prominent Deraa family who went to the mosque in the city’s old quarter to help victims of the attack, residents said.
It was not immediately clear whether the protesters had any weapons.
The attack, which occurred shortly after midnight, brought to 10 the number of civilians killed by Syrian forces in confrontations with protesters calling for political freedoms and an end to corruption.
It came a day after the UN Office for Human Rights said the authorities “need to put an immediate halt to the excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, especially the use of live ammunition”.
The protesters, who erected tents in the mosque’s grounds, said earlier they were going to remain at the site until their demands were met.
Before the attack, electricity was cut off in the area and telephone services were severed.
Cries of “Allahu Akbar (God is the greatest)“ erupted across neighbourhoods in Deraa when the shooting began.
Yesterday, Vice President Farouq al-Shara said President Bashar al-Assad was committed to “continue the path of reform and modernisation in Syria”, Lebanon’s al-Manar television reported.
A main demand of the protesters is an end to what they term repression by the secret police, headed in Deraa province by a cousin of Assad, who faces the biggest challenge to his rule since succeeding his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000.