Rights Group Says Nine Syrian Troops Killed

A rights group says nine Syrian soldiers have been killed in a bombing in central Syria and in clashes with gunmen suspected to be army defectors in the flashpoint central province of Homs.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five soldiers were shot dead in the city of Homs, and four died when a remote-control bomb blew up an army vehicle in the northwestern province of Idlib. The observatory also said that Syrian security forces opened fire in a residential area in the city of Homs, killing one person and wounding six.

The fresh wave of violence came as UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop the killings of civilians immediately and to accept an international investigation into human rights violations.

The UN said on October 14 that more than 3,000 people have been killed in the crackdown.

compiled from agency reports