AMMAN | Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:14pm EDT
Two of the four were shot dead by army snipers in the old Sunni district of Bab Dreib while on their way to a funeral of several protesters shot dead by security forces the previous day, they said.
They added that tanks and armored vehicles were also deployed in other districts, such as Khalidya and Bab Sbaa, where protests demanding the removal of Assad have taken place regularly.
“Roadblocks have cut off every neighborhood from another, and random firing by troops manning them is common” said one of the residents, who gave her name as Manal.
Tension between the Sunni Muslim majority and members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect have increased in the city of one million, Syria’s third largest, since troops and tanks deployed six months ago to stop pro-democracy protests.
The crackdown resumed in mid-September after a lull, with tens of people killed, activists said. The authorities say “armed terrorist groups” are operating in Homs, killing civilians and prominent figures.
Foreign reporters, including from Reuters, are largely banned from Syria, making independent confirmation of reports of killing difficult.
(Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Amman newsroom; Editing by Jon Boyle)
