Troops storm Syria town as observers visit Treimsa

Syrian troops and pro-regime militias stormed and torched a southern town today, 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 don't have medical resources to treat them," he added.

Elsewhere, a pregnant woman was among 28 people killed across the country, the Observatory said, a day after 118 people died including dozens of civilians gunned down by troops at anti-regime protests.

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 today to investigate.

According to the Spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh, a group of observers was visiting 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."

Yesterday, observer chief Major General Robert Mood,had said a team was "ready to go in and seek verification of the facts if and when there is a credible ceasefire."

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