Deadly clashes hit Syria

Syrian security forces used live ammunition in the early hours of Saturday to disperse a pro-democracy protest by hundreds of people in a Sunni district of Latakia, causing scores of injuries and possible deaths, residents said.
Protests have spread across Syria, challenging the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, and dozens of demonstrators have been killed. A Syrian rights group said at least 37 were killed across the country on Friday.
One witness said he saw water trucks hosing down blood on the streets near the Takhasussieh School in the Sleibeh district of Latakia, Syria's main port, 330km northwest of the capital Damascus.
"One cannot move two steps in the streets without risking arrest. It is difficult to know if there were deaths, but we heard heavy AK-47 fire," a resident told Reuters.
There are also unconfirmed reports of deaths in Homs, Duma and Harasta.
BBC quoted witnesses yesterday as saying that at least 23 protesters have been killed during anti-government rallies in the southern Syrian city of Deraa.
However, state-run Syrian TV said that 19 members of the security forces had been killed "by armed groups" in Deraa.
Deraa has been a focus of unrest since anti-government protests erupted across Syria in mid-March.
The protests have posed an unprecedented challenge to President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule. He has offered to consider reforms, but activists say his proposals do not go far enough.
US President Barack Obama said the violence against protesters was "abhorrent".
"I also condemn any use of violence by protesters," he added.
'POOLS OF BLOOD'
An activist in Deraa told AFP news agency by telephone that demonstrators leaving from three mosques had marched to the city's main court but were confronted by "security forces dressed in civilian clothing" who fired tear gas to disperse them.
Another protester told the BBC's Newshour programme: "After the prayer everybody went... to the town. The police and the army didn't allow them to go through and started shooting at them. We got around 13 people who are dead in the beginning of it and then everybody got attacked. Everybody screaming asking for freedom, at the beginning, but everybody now asking for change in the whole thing."
A resident quoted by Reuters reported seeing "pools of blood and three bodies" in the Mahatta area of Deraa.
Also in Deraa, protesters smashed a stone statue of Basil al-Assad - President Assad's late brother - Reuters reported, citing a witness.
Last month, protesters in Deraa tore down a statue of President Assad's father - former President Hafez al-Assad.
An office of the ruling Baath Party in the Mahatta area was attacked on set on fire, the witness added.
State television said "saboteurs and conspirators" had opened fire in Deraa, killing 19 members of the security forces and wounding 75.