Syria pipeline attacked amid ongoing killing

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Source: CNN International

Syrian officials and opposition activists blamed each other for an attack on a gas pipeline near the restive city of Homs on Tuesday, while opposition groups said more than 30 people had died in new clashes.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three civilians were killed by government troops in Homs, while deserting government troops killed 18 members of the security forces in the city of Jasem. Syrian officials did not respond to CNN requests for comment on the incident, and state media did not mention it.

And the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition umbrella group, said police and troops still loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's government killed 11 people in and around Damascus, Hama and Homs, where the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency blamed the pipeline explosion on a "terrorist group."

CNN cannot independently confirm events inside Syria because the government restricts the activity of journalists. But activists in Homs said the government blew up the pipeline itself to distract Arab League monitors, who are in the country to try to protect civilians from violence at the hands of government security forces.


Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/03/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t2