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Summary Syrian troops attacked and torched southern town Khirbet Ghazaleh in the province of Daraa.
Syrian troops and pro-regime militias stormed and torched a southern town on Saturday, reports said, as UN observers visited a central village where a mass killing has provoked harsh global condemnation.Hundreds of soldiers backed by helicopter gunships attacked Khirbet Ghazaleh in the province of Daraa -- the cradle of a 16-month uprising -- amid heavy gunfire, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.An activist on the ground who identified himself as Bayan Ahmad gave a similar account, saying pro-regime militias were setting alight houses in the town.The army entered without resistance as the rebel Free Syrian Army left town. The shelling has wounded dozens of people but we dont have medical resources to treat them, he added.Elsewhere, a pregnant woman was among 72 people killed across the country on Saturday, the Observatory said, a day after 118 people died including dozens of civilians gunned down by troops at anti-regime protests.It said the toll comprised 34 civilians, including nine women and seven children, 17 rebels and at least 21 soldiers.An AFP journalist said fighting Saturday near the Turkish border between government troops and rebel fighters left at least 10 rebels dead and 15 wounded.The violence persisted despite international outcry over the killing on Thursday of more than 150 people in the central village of Treimsa.The circumstances surrounding the incident have still not been clarified, but UN observers made their way to the village in the central province of Hama on Saturday to investigate.Spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh told AFP that a group of observers had entered Treimsa, while an activist calling himself Abu Ghazi said they had met residents and inspected places that were bombed and where there were traces of blood.On Friday, a reconnaissance mission had gone in to the village to assess the situation, Ghosheh said.
