DHAKA: Syrian government forces shelled a vulnerable Sunni community in a coastal province dominated by president Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect on Saturday, activists said, raising fears that residents of the isolated town could face mass killings by pro-Damascus militias.

Two Syrian rights groups said shelling of the town of al-Mitras began at dawn, killing six people, reports TDS.

The town lies near two other Sunni Muslim towns of Bayda and Banias.

Rights groups charge that regime supporters killed at least 248 people in those two communities in May.

They said regime forces shelled Bayda before militias entered and carried out the alleged massacre.

‘We are worried, because this is an isolated area and crimes can be covered up quickly,’ said Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which follows a network of activists in the field.

He said the shelling began at dawn after rebels were spotted nearby.

Syria’s civil war has cleaved along the country’s sectarian patchwork. Sunnis dominate the revolt, while Christians and other Muslim sects have mostly stood behind the regime.

BDST: 1908 HRS, OCT 05, 2013
RoR/RIS