'80 police killed' in Syria clash

Eighty Syrian policemen and security force members have been killed in an ambush and gun battle in a tense northern town, according to state TV.

The fighting occurred in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, near the Turkish border, where Syria’s military has been conducting operations for days as part of a crackdown on an uprising calling for an end to President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Human rights groups say at least 35 people have been killed there since Saturday.

The TV said armed groups in the area carried out a “massacre.”

It said the groups ambushed police and security forces, blew up the post office, torched government buildings and mutilated bodies. Thirty-seven were killed at a security post, the report said.

There was no independent confirmation of the claims.