Muslim Brotherhood Denounces New Syria Massacre

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood accused the Damascus regime of being behind a new massacre in the strife-torn country and said the world community, including Arab nations, also bear responsibility.

The Islamist group said more than 100 people, including women and children, had been massacred on Wednesday in the town of Al-Kubeir, in the central Hama region, and dozens more were killed earlier the same day in Al-Haffa, a town in the coastal region of Latakia.

"The series of successive massacres continues," the group said, accusing Syrian President Bashar Assad of pushing an agenda that clearly ignores global efforts to end 15 months of bloodshed.

The Brotherhood said the international community, including Arab and Muslim countries, are also accountable for the latest killings, which come following a similar massacre in the town of Houla last month.

"We hold the international community, including all of its institutions and member states, as well as Arab and Muslim countries, responsible for what is taking place in Syria in terms of killings, massacres and violations," the group said in a statement.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the number of villagers killed in Wednesday's assault at 87 after the exiled opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) had given an initial estimate of 100 dead.

Both groups said shabiha militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad's regime had carried out the mass killings in al-Kubeir, in the central province of Hama.

If the reports prove accurate, the massacre will rank among the worst atrocities in the 15-month uprising against Assad's regime.

The Syrian government on Thursday denied responsibility, saying in a televised statement: "What a few media have reported on what happened in al-Kubeir, in the Hama region, is completely false."

"A terrorist group committed a heinous crime in the Hama region which claimed nine victims. The reports by the media are contributing to spilling the blood of Syrians," the statement said.

The Britain-based Observatory said in a statement that the shabiha had carried out the "new massacre" after shelling by regular troops.

"What is certain is that dozens of people died, including women and children," the watchdog's Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse. His group later gave a toll of 87 dead, while the SNC revised it toll downwards to around 80.

SNC spokesman Mohammed Sermini joined Abdel Rahman in urging U.N. observers deployed to monitor a mostly-ignored truce to head immediately to the region to investigate.

The reports come after at least 108 people were killed in a two-day massacre that began on May 25 near the central town of Houla, most of them women and children who were summarily executed, according to the United Nations.