About five Syrians gunned down in rebellious Homs

About five Syrians, including army personnel, were killed late Monday by "armed terrorist" groups' gunfire in the rebellious city of Homs, which was witnessing escalating riot as protests there have seemingly turned into armed insurrection. Many others were injured by armed groups' gunfire, including a 10-year-old girl, four women and an army officer, local private al- Watan newspaper said Tuesday. Quoting an well-informed source in Homs, al-Watan said the government forces killed late Monday two "terrorist leaders" and a number of "dangerous armed men" in Homs. The operation was reported as part of government forces' manhunt of "terrorist groups that carried out sabotage and terrorist acts." In a separate incident, government forces clashed with another armed group in Homs, killing two of them and injuring several others, the source said, adding that a number of Israeli-made weapons were found in their car, including anti-tank launchers, sniper rifles, machine guns and grenades. Also in Homs, armed men opened fire at schoolchildren in an attempt to prevent them from entering the school at al-Qusair area, said al-Watan, adding that the terrorists also torched two new schools and a civilian court there. Meanwhile, the pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV cited activist group as saying that a total of 35 people were killed across Syria on Monday, adding that 23 of them were killed in Homs. The seven-month unrest in Syria has claimed the lives of 3,000 people according to a recent UN tally. The Syrian government repeatedly blamed the chaos on armed groups and extremists backed by a foreign conspiracy.