Red Cross Still Denied Access To Homs

An image grab taken from a video on YouTube allegedly shows shelling by government forces on the residential district of Baba Amr in the Syrian city of Homs.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has begun delivering aid to a village near Homs where refugees from the central Syrian city's battered Baba Amr district are sheltering.

But the ICRC said government troops were still preventing Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent teams from entering Baba Amr, three days after they seized it from rebel forces following nearly a month-long siege.

The army says it has to clear Baba Amr of booby traps and mines, before allowing the Red Cross in.

Activists say reports of summary executions suggest the delay may be aimed at covering this up.

Homs, Syria's third-largest city, had emerged as a central battleground in the conflict between government forces and opponents of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which started last March with protests calling for Assad's ouster.

With reporting by Reuters and AP