Syrian troops killed at least 31 people and insurgents killed six soldiers on Tuesday, opposition activists said, on the day President Bashar al-Assad was to withdraw his forces 48 hours ahead of the first ceasefire of the 13-month-old conflict.
Activists said 26 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the city of Homs in Syrian army bombardment of the Bayada and Khalidiya districts of the city of Homs.
“They are attacking Bayada with mortars from three different locations. People have taken refuge in some schools and now some of the schools were hit,” said an activist calling himself Abu Yasser.
“We have at least 20 martyrs and 70 wounded, most of them women and children,” he told Reuters by telephone.
An earlier report from activists said six people were killed by army shelling in the Homs district of Khalidiya. Four were identified by residents in a field hospital, but two were disfigured beyond recognition by wounds.
The activist Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said six soldiers were killed in attacks on two checkpoints on the desert highway running through the eastern town of Marqada, south of the Turkish border.
A seventh civilian was killed in Bab Tadmor, another Homs neighbourhood that activists say has been shelled. Four people were killed in a military operation in Kafar Zeita north of Hama city, SOHR chief Rami Abdelrahman said.
“Late last night there was heavy fighting between the rebels and the Syrian forces. Helicopters were used by the army. Today, the army conducted a military operation and there are ongoing clashes between both sides,” Abdelrahman said.
There was no report of clashes or attacks from the official Syrian news agency, SANA.
In the days leading up to Tuesday’s deadline, violence intensified and daily death tolls were often over 100. Syria says it has already pulled back some of its troops from the cities in keeping with its undertaking to United Nations and Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan.
His peace plan calls for rebel forces to stop shooting as the army withdraws so that all forms of violence cease at dawn on Thursday.
NO PULLOUT SEEN: The Observatory, a British-based information clearing house that has collated reports on the violence in Syria for the past year, said there was no clear sign on Tuesday of the troop withdrawals that Annan’s plan calls for.
Activists said the Homs bombardment began at breakfast time.
