Syrian Forces Fire On Protesters, 12 Dead

USA Today reports:

Security forces opened fire Friday as thousands of anti-government protesters took to Syria's streets in a weekly ritual of defiance and demands for President Bashar Assad's ouster, activists said. They said at least 12 people, including two children, were killed in Damascus and elsewhere.

Four were killed in Barzeh, a Damascus district 3 miles from the city center, said Syria-based human rights activist Mustafa Osso. He said they were felled by security forces' guns. But Syrian state television said gunmen, otherwise unidentified, had opened fire on security personnel and civilians, killing three civilians and wounding several security force members.

Three other fatalities occurred in al-Kasweh, a suburb of the capital; four in the central city of Homs, and one in Hama, also in central Syria, said the the Local Coordination Committees, which track the Syrian protests. Protests in several other provinces also came under fire but it was not immediately clear whether there were casualties, said a spokesman for the group, Omar Idilbi.