2 Palestinian refugees killed in Syria clashes

Two Palestinians were killed during clashes in Syria on Wednesday, a local Palestinian group said. The Workforce for Palestinians in Syria said in a statement that Omar Abbas and Adnan Qasem were killed after shelling in Yarmouk camp near Damascus. The group said that a Palestinian woman from al-Aedin camp died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack while on a boat fleeing to Italy. Another woman, Salma Mahmoud, died after arriving in Italy following a tortuous journey escaping Syria, the group added. The al-Sheikh refugee camp came under heavy shelling, while refugees in the al-Sbineh camp are suffering from a lack of food, medicine, and fuel due to a blockade by the Syrian army. A Palestinian refugee was killed on Monday in Syria's Daraa refugee camp. The group said that Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus witnessed clashes between Syrian regime forces and rebels and has been blockaded by Syria's army for over 50 days, with no electricity or medical supplies. In March, the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria said that over 1,377 Palestinians had been killed in the ongoing Syria conflict, with that number thought to have increased significantly since then. More than two million Syrians have now fled their war-ravaged country, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. A staggering 6.2 million Syrians have been torn from their homes -- a number without parallel in any other country and representing nearly a third of Syria's pre-war population of 20.8 million.