Syria has buried its dead following a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests which killed 44 people.
A leading human rights lawyer has claimed that Syrian security forces shot dead at least six mourners when they fired at a funeral for 10 dead pro-democracy protesters in the central city of Homs.
US President Barack Obama has expressed 'acute concern' about the situation in the country.
Funerals were held in various regions as a human rights advocate put the death toll from yesterday’s protests at 44.
Most of the casualties were in the western province of Idlib and the central city of Homs.
'Syrian authorities are continuing to use excessive force and live ammunition to face popular protests in various regions throughout the country,' said Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights.
He said 26 people were killed in the province of Idlib and 13 in Homs.
Two people were also killed in the eastern town of Deir Ezzor, one in Daraya, a suburb of the capital Damascus, one in the coastal city of Latakia and one in central Hama, he said.
The official news agency SANA put the death toll at 17 - among them police and security troops - and blamed the violence on 'armed groups'.
Quoting an interior ministry official, SANA said these groups had taken advantage of specific instructions by authorities not to open fire on public gatherings.
'These armed groups opened fire on several gatherings... and on the police,' SANA said. 'They also vandalised public and private property.'
Foreign media are not allowed to travel in the country to report on the unrest making it difficult to verify information.
Fridays have become a rallying point in the nine-week revolt that has posed the greatest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule.
Protestors were initially emboldened by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and more lately by punitive international sanctions on Mr Assad and top aides.
Mr Assad's regime has responded to the violence with a brutal crackdown that has left at least 850 people dead and hundreds injured, according to rights groups.
Thousands more have been arrested and tortured, activists say.
In a policy speech on Thursday Mr Obama said: 'President Assad now has a choice... He can lead that transition or get out of the way.
'The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests,' he added.
The European Union too has placed sanctions on several Assad aides, although not on the president himself.
But Syria has remained defiant in the face of the diplomatic pressure, accusing the US of meddling in its internal affairs and of incitement.
