12 killed in Syria as pressure mounts on Assad

The latest deaths came after UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for "coherent" global action over President Bashar al-Assad's deadly response to dissent, as dissidents marked six months of anti-regime protests in Syria.

And Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Libyan capital on the final leg of his "Arab Spring" tour, lashed out at Assad, telling him that the era of oppressive dictators is past.

"Four people were killed and 11 more were wounded -- three of them seriously -- during search and seize operations in the town of Hilfaya" 17 kilometres (10 miles) from Hama city, the Britain-based group told AFP in Nicosia.

"One person was also killed in the village of Khattab in Hama province," it added.
Elsewhere, three people were killed in the villages of Sarjeh and Kfar Weid in the northwestern region of Jebel al-Zawiya after being detained, the Observatory said.
In the central city of Homs, two demonstrators were shot dead by security forces when several thousand people gathered to protest, activists said.

And one person was shot dead by security forces in the Nahr Aisha quarter of Damascus, and one was killed in Douma, also in the capital, the Observatory said.

It also reported the discovery of eight bodies -- six in Jebel al-Zawiya and another two in Homs. It said most had been killed over the past 24 hours.