3 Syrian workers killed in violence-hit Homs

Three workers were killed when " armed terrorist groups" opened fire at a bus in the central province of Homs, the hotbed of more than seven months of anti- government protests and one of the country's most volatile areas, the state-run SANA news agency reported. Quoting a "well informed source," SANA said the armed groups showered the bus with heavy machine gunfire. It said other gunmen also attacked a number of schools in Homs. The city of Homs, Syria's third largest city, some 160 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, has been witnessing intense anti-government protests as well as clashes between government forces and "armed groups" lately. However, activists claim that Syrian troops are fighting army defectors particularly in Homs. In another account, the Doha-based al-Jazeera TV cited activists as saying that around 16 people were killed Wednesday. The pan-Arab TV network quoted the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying that about nine army soldiers were killed by defectors near cental Hama province, another hub of anti-government protests and armed manifestations. The activists' accounts couldn't be verified as journalists are banned of independently heading to restive areas. Syria has been plagued by unrest since mid-March when protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government erupted.