UN observers find traces of Syrian massacre

UN observers in Syria who visited the site of a reported massacre in a village in Hama province said they saw blood on the walls and were hit by a "stench of burnt flesh" but could not confirm how many had died.

While the government denied responsibility, Martin Nesirky, a UN spokesman, said on Friday the observers saw armoured vehicle tracks around homes in Al-Qubayr village, that was damaged by rockets, grenades and various other weapons.

"Inside some of the houses, blood was visible across the walls and floors. Fire was still burning outside houses and there was a strong stench of burnt flesh," Nesirky said in a grim account of the visit.

Activists say at least 70 people were killed on Wednesday in an assault on Qubayr, a small farming town in Hama province of about 160 people, mostly Bedouins.

UN officials have made it clear they believe government forces and allies were behind the attack on a mainly Sunni Muslim village surrounded by an Allawite population loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 20 unarmed UN observers were allowed into Qubayr on Friday after they were shot at and prevented from entering the village on Thursday, Nesirky said in a statement.

Monitors in the deserted village were unable to find witnesses of the attack, which has led to calls for tougher action against Assad's government.

Violence continued across Syria, with unconfirmed reports of explosions in the capital Damascus.

The Red Cross has warned that 1.5 million people need humanitarian aid.

Condemning the Qubayr massacre earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned of an imminent danger of civil war and the international peace envoy, Kofi Annan, has said his six-point peace plan is not being implemented.

The opposition blamed the Qubayr massacre on militia allied to President Bashar al-Assad while the government accused "terrorists" of killing civilians.

Activists on Saturday said 17 people, including 10 women, were killed overnight by shelling in the southern Syrian town of Deraa, where the uprising against Assad's rule erupted 15 months ago.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria through a network of sources inside the country, reported fighting in the town between the army and rebels after the shelling.

In the capital Damascus, which was once relatively secure from the unrest, it said explosions were heard overnight after some of the fiercest fighting between rebels and security forces loyal to President Assad.

The main road south from Damascus to Deraa was blocked by burning tyres, it said.

In addition to the deaths in Deraa, the group said 44 civilians were killed across the country on Friday, nearly half of them in the central province of Homs and in Damascus suburbs.

Twenty-five soldiers were also killed on Friday, it said, in the provinces of Idlib, Damascus, Deir al-Zor, Homs and Deraa.

The UN says that well over 10,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March 2011.