Graphic photographs have emerged of the victims of an massacre allegedly committed by gangs of Syrian militia loyal to President Bashar Assad.
The images - pixelated because they are so horrific - show shot, stabbed and burned bodies piled in the streets of the village of Baniyas.
Among the victims are a number of children, some no more than toddlers.
Slaughter: Innocent men, women and children -
their bodies pixilated because the wounds were so gruesome - lie in a
street in Baniyas. It was released by Edlib News Network, ENN
Massacred: This image provided by The Syrian
Revolution against Bashar Assad reportedly shows dead bodies at Bayda
village, where scores of people were allegedly killed by regime forces
Victims: A shocking image taken from a YouTube
video of bodies lying inside lying inside a house in the Syrian village
of Bayda where at least 72 people have been reportedly massacred
Some were lying in pools of
blood, and one toddler was covered in burns, her clothes singed and her
legs charred. Some of the women victims were mutilated.
At least 77 people - 20 from the same
family - were killed, a day after 72 died in nearby Bayda after it was
overrun by government forces.
Assad's regime claimed it had fought back against 'terrorist' groups' and restored peace and security to the area.
But activists have posted harrowing video
clips online to back up their claims that pro-regime militia known as
the Shabbiha are involved in the operation.
The BBC's correspondent Jim Muir claims there is a strong sectarian dimension to the killings.
Baniyas
is a Sunni Muslim pocket in the middle of a large Alawite enclave on
Syria's Mediterranean coast, and activists in the area accuse militias
loyal to Assad of ethnic cleansing.
The
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the names
of at least 50 dead in Bayda. There were reports of men's bodies, some
blindfolded, lying in the street.
The Observatory, which relies on a
network of activists on the ground, cited witnesses as saying that some
of the victims were killed with knives or blunt objects and that dozens
of villagers were missing.
The
massacre began following clashes with Assad forces who had earlier
arrested villagers and killed them in prison after torture.
A
survivor named as Abu Abdullah told the Sunday Telegraph: 'Security and
Shabbiha militia entered the village with knives and guns and started
to kill everybody they met.
'Almost 60 per cent of the women and children of the village were killed.'
Lifeless: Lying sprawled on the ground, the body
of a man killed when Syrian regime forces overran the village of Bayda.
The image was taken from a video. His face has been pixelated because
of his injuries
Conflict casualties: Two bodies lying in the village of Bayda - said to be victims of militia loyal to President Assad
Hundreds of Sunni families are now fleeing the area, heading for nearby towns like Jableh and Tartou.
But
Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Observatory said: 'Now the army is
turning people back at the checkpoints outside the town, telling them to
go back to Baniyas, that nothing is wrong.
'There are also announcements going out on mosque loud speakers telling people to return home.'
DAILYMAIL
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