10 things you need to know today: May 27, 2012

Anti-Syrian regime mourners chant as they carry the body of Khaled Shurbajy during his funeral procession on Saturday: More than 90 people were killed in an attack on the district of Houla.

(Image credit: AP Photo)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. SYRIA DENIES IT WAS BEHIND ATTACK THAT KILLED 90

The Syrian government denied that its troops killed more than 90 people on Saturday in Houla, an area northwest of the central city of Homs. Instead, Damascus blamed "hundreds of [unidentified] heavily-armed gunmen" for the killings, and claimed that some of the government's troops were also attacked. However, U.N. observers found spent artillery and tank shells at the site — a finding which would point toward the government's heavily-armed mechanized units. The assault was one of the bloodiest single events in Syria's 15-month-old uprising. The U.N. says 32 children under 10 were among the dead. [Associated Press]

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