Thousands of Sunni Muslims fled a Syrian coastal town today, a day after reports circulated that dozens of people, including children, had been killed by pro-government gunmen in the area, activists said.

At least seven people were killed and dozens wounded in gun battles in the Lebanese capital Beirut and coastal Tripoli in further unrest linked to the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

United Nations observers smelled the stench of burned corpses and saw body parts scattered around a Syrian farming hamlet that was the site of a massacre in which nearly 80 men, women and children were reported to have been killed.