Two killed in fresh Syria violence

Syrian troops have shot dead two people during military operations in a northern town near the border with Turkey and a suburb of the capital Damascus, activists said today.

They said troops and tanks stormed the town of Khan Sheikhon in the northern province of Idlib early today amid heavy gunfire that killed one woman.

Security forces also shot dead one person as they swept into the Damascus suburb of Saqba, carrying out raids and arrests.

The London-based Observatory for Human Rights and the activist group the Local Co-ordination Committees have confirmed the deaths.

The operations reflect the determination of president Bashar Assad to crush the five-month uprising against his rule despite mounting international condemnation.