Syria: Dozens dead in army shelling on capital
Witnesses say at least 62 killed in eastern Damascus during security forces helicopter attack, army shelling
Syrian army shelling and helicopter attacks on suburbs of the capital Damascus killed at least 62 people on Monday, Opposition activists said.
Eleven of the dead were killed in the district of Jobar, where activists said a Syrian helicopter was downed earlier in the day, they said.
Related stories:
- Syria VP appears in public, ending defection rumors
Syria activists report 'execution style' killings near Damascus
Report: Rebels down Syrian helicopter
Five of the Jobar victims were captured in Dayer Jdayeh Street and summarily executed by security forces, and the others died when their homes were hit, opposition activists said.
Syrian authorities have banned entry to most foreign media, making it impossible to verify accounts by activists and residents.
"Shells hit a row of flats. We pulled out four bodies from inside, including a child," said one resident of Jobar, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals.
Rebels have intensified guerrilla attacks on Assad's forces in the capital. The army has responded with artillery, mortar and aerial bombardment, as well as arrest raids. "It appears that eastern Damascus is being subjected to collective punishment," Yasmine, one of the activists, said from the capital.
Destruction on streets of Aleppo (Photo: Reuters)
"The shelling and helicopter fire are directly targeting civilians in their homes."
Footage released by opposition campaigners showed 20 bodies on the floor of a mosque in the adjacent neighborhood of Zamalka, including three children.
"I pray that you (Assad) will see your own children like this," said one man, gently moving the head of a dead boy whose jaw appeared to have been sliced through by shrapnel.
Activists said the rest of the casualties were reported killed in helicopter and mortar shell bombardment on the suburbs of Irbin, Harasta, Kfar Batna and Muleiha, on the eastern outskirts of the capital.
Video footage from the Damascus suburb of Harasta showed what appeared to be a mortar round falling on a street lined with shops, with the cameraman yelling: "God is greatest", as parked cars around him burst into flames.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned massacre calling it "an appalling and brutal crime" that should be independently investigated immediately, his spokesman said on Monday.
"The secretary-general is certainly shocked by those reports and he strongly condemns this appalling and brutal crime," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
"This needs to be investigated immediately, in an independent and impartial fashion."
Later on Monday, witnesses reported that a Syrian fighter plane flew over the Damascus neighborhood of Jobar where the military helicopter earlier came down under fire, but it was not clear if the warplane fired at any targets.
"The jet swooped over Jobar and we heard a big explosion at the same time and saw fire and smoke, but no one saw it actually dropping a bomb," said Abu al-Huda, a resident of Jobar who did not want to be further identified for fear of reprisals.
Reuters and AP contributed to this report
