7 Killed in Syria Clashes

The Associated Press reports:

Government supporters and opponents clashed in three Syrian cities on Tuesday and security forces opened fire, killing at least seven people including a teenager, activists reported. The bloodshed came as President Bashar Assad's regime sought to counter a 3-month-old pro-democracy uprising with mass demonstrations.

The Local Coordinating Committees, which track the Syrian protest movement, said a 13-year-old boy was killed when security forces opened fire on antigovernment protesters in a main square in the central city of Hama.

Three other people were killed in Homs, central Syria, and three in the Mayadin district in the eastern city of Deir el Zour during pro and anti-regime demonstrations. The two sides have clashed in the past, but Tuesday's bloodshed appeared to be the worst such violence.