Syrian troops and security forces backed by tanks killed 11 civilians on Wednesday when they stormed a town near Damascus, Syrian human rights campaigners said, in the latest crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said four tanks and a bulldozer entered Kanaker, 30 km (20 miles) southwest of the capital, while 14 other tanks surrounded the town. It said residents threw stones and set fire to tyres in an effort to block their advance, and shouted “God is greatest” from rooftops. Citing witnesses, the Syrian National Organisation for Human Rights, which is headed by opposition figure Ammar Qurabi, said military intelligence agents also arrested 300 people in the town and took them away in 11 small buses.
