NGO: 9 Syrians executed at checkpoint

At least nine Syrians, including a child, were executed by regime forces at a checkpoint in Damascus province, a watchdog said on Tuesday. "Nine citizens, including a child, were shot dead by regime forces near the town of Qara, in the Qalamun area of Damascus province, yesterday (Monday) evening," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The nine were "executed" at a military checkpoint in the area, the group said, citing local activists. Video footage shot by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed bodies lain out on the white floor of a room, some of them partially covered with a piece of white plastic sheeting. Several appeared to have been shot in the head, and others in the chest. In Homs province in the centre, members of a pro-regime militia killed seven members of a reconciliation committee in the village of Hajar Abyad, the Observatory said. It distributed a video showing black body bags tagged with pieces of paper bearing each man's name. More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising erupted against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011, according to the Observatory's figures.