Syrian Observatory Says Nearly 12,000 Killed in Uprising

Nearly 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in Syria since the outbreak in March 2011 of a revolt against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, a watchdog said Tuesday.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that of those killed, some 800 had died since a U.N.-backed ceasefire went into effect on April 12.

"A total 8,515 civilians have died since the outbreak of the revolt along with 3,410 soldiers, including some 720 army defectors," Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

He added that since the truce went into effect, 589 civilians had died along with 213 soldiers and 29 defectors.

The Britain-based Observatory said six civilians were killed by regime forces on Tuesday, three of them in northwestern Idlib province.

The province, which borders Turkey, is a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army and a hotbed of opposition to Assad's regime.

Violence across the country has persisted despite the presence of U.N. observers monitoring the truce and parliamentary elections held on Monday.

The vote was boycotted by the opposition which described it as a sham.