Syria forces kill 3 at prayer protests

Forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar al-Assad killed three protesters after Friday prayers in eastern and southern towns, activists said, as demonstrations flared, buoyed by the demise of Muammar Gaddafi's power in Libya. Assad has sent in tanks and security forces to crush months of demonstrations by activists calling for an end to his family's 41-year rule, witnesses have reported.
A resident of Deir al-Zor said security forces opened fire to disperse scores of protesters, killing two of them. He named them as 26-year-old Marii Fathi and 22-year-old Oday Bahloul. "The was shooting in Kanama Street near Jandol cafe and a white security van took their bodies," he said, adding that another youth, Ibrahim Mohammad al-Dukhoul, was taken to hospital with serious gunshot wounds. In Nawa, a town in the southern Hauran Plain that has seen regular protests, residents and activists said one protester was killed after forces loyal to Assad shot at demonstrators coming out of a mosque.