Reports of new massacre in Syria

Syrian pro-government forces are being accused of having killed 78 people in a single village in Hama province, many of them women and children. Other reports talk of 100 dead or more.
Activists say that Qubair, about 20km north-west of the city of Hama, had come under heavy bombardment from security forces backed by tanks. They said much of the killing was done by accompanying groups of pro-government militiamen known as shabiha, who had come from nearby pro-government villages. The activists said they shot at close range and stabbed many people, and that some of the bodies were later burnt in houses that were set on fire.

Damascus denied a massacre, saying "terrorists" had killed nine people.
Neither account could be confirmed, but activists said 140 had been killed nationwide on Wednesday - one of the bloodiest days of the uprising.
The news of the new massacre comes less than two weeks after 108 people were killed in a massacre in Houla.On Thursday, UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is expected to urge the UN Security Council to create a new contact group to help end the violence.