Syrian regime forces have killed about 100 people, including many women and children, in a "massacre" in Syria's central Hama province, activists said.
"We have 100 deaths in the village of Al-Kubeir... among them 20 women and 20 children," said Mohammed Sermini, spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Council, which accused the regime of being behind the "massacre."
Reports from Syria cannot be independently verified as state authorities have barred international journalists and rights groups.
Other sources also reported that a "massacre" had taken place in the same area, including opposition activists and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said 87 people were killed.
The "new massacre" was carried out at a farm by the pro-regime shabiha militia armed with guns and knives after regular troops had shelled the area, the Britain-based Observatory said in a statement.
"What is certain is that dozens of people died, including women and children," the watchdog's Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Both Sermini and the Observatory urged UN observers to immediately head to the region to investigate the latest atrocity in Syria's 15-month uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
At least 108 people were killed in a two-day massacre that began on 25 May near the central town of Houla, most of them women and children who were summarily executed, according to the United Nations.
