Zeenews Bureau
Geneva: The UN human rights office says the global body's investigators have concluded that almost 90 people, including children, were summarily executed in Syria's Houla region on Friday.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says UN monitors found that less than 20 of the 108 people killed died from artillery fire.
Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva that most of the other victims were summarily executed in two separate incidents.
Colville says the conclusions of the UN monitors have been corroborated by other sources.
He says witnesses blamed pro-government militias for the attacks.
Survivors of the Houla massacre in Syria recounted their shock and fear as troops loyal to the ruling regime entered into their homes forcibly and killed their families.
According to the BBC, several witnesses said they hid or acted dead to survive.
The killings in the west-central area of Houla brought widespread international criticism of the regime of President Bashar Assad.
(With Agency inputs)
First Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 15:38