GUNFIRE and shelling rattled a city in central Syria yesterday and killed a 12-year-old boy, as president Bashar Assad’s regime expanded its military crackdown on a seven-week-old uprising.

Gunfire and shelling rattled a city in central Syria today killing a 12-year-old boy, as President Bashar Assad’s autocratic regime expanded its military crackdown on a seven-week-old uprising, activists said.