Thursday, June 7, 2012

U.N. monitors try to verify new Syria massacre

"(Reuters) - U.N. monitors tried on Thursday to reach a village where activists say Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad massacred at least 78 villagers, hours before a divided U.N. Security Council discusses Syria.

If confirmed, the killings at Mazraat al-Qubeir, near Hama, will pile pressure on world powers to act, but they have been paralyzed by divisions pitting Western and most Arab states against Assad's defenders in Russia, China and Iran.

U.N. monitors based in Hama set out for Mazraat al-Qubeir but activists said an army checkpoint had turned them back. "We have dispatched a patrol which is trying to get access there," said Sausan Ghosheh, a spokeswoman for the U.N. observers.

Several activists told Reuters that up to 40 women and children were among the dead when the village in central Syria was shelled on Wednesday before fighters moved in and shot and stabbed dozens of people to death......."

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