2 Killed, 5 Bodies Found in Syria's Homs

Syrian security forces killed two people, including a teenager, and another five bodies were found in the flashpoint central province of Homs on Tuesday, activists said.

"Two people died and two were wounded by gunfire south of the industrial town of Rastan" near Homs, where they were employed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse, adding one of those killed was aged 15.

The Observatory also said "the bodies of five people, including a woman, were discovered on Tuesday morning" in Homs. They were still unidentified, and were taken to the city's main hospital.

Elsewhere in the Damascus region, "the body of a young man who was wounded by gunfire Friday when security forces dispersed a demonstration in Zamalka was given to his family and it will be buried today."

The man had been "rescued after being wounded and taken to a hospital but security forces arrested him at the hospital."

The Britain-based Observatory added that demonstrations had taken place late Monday near Homs, where eight people were killed earlier in the day, according to activists.

The security forces killed another five people across Syria on Monday, they said.

Since mid-March, Syria has been engulfed in daily mass protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations says at least 2,200 people have been killed in the violence as security forces repressed the protests.

Assad's regime says it is fighting foreign-backed "armed terrorist gangs."