More than 70 killed in Syria demos: activists, rights groups

NICOSIA: More than 70 people were killed on Friday by security forces who fired on anti-regime demonstrators across Syria, according to a new toll reported by activists and human rights groups.

"The Syrian security forces committed massacres in several towns and regions today, so far killing 72 people and wounding hundreds," said the London-based Syrian Human Rights Committee in a statement received by AFP.

Several Syrian rights activists also published provisional lists recording the deaths of more than 70 people across the country on Friday.

Earlier, witnesses and activists reported at least 38 people killed in one of the bloodiest days since pro-democracy protests erupted in Syria in mid-March.