Wednesday, June 6, Syrian pro-government forces killed at least 86 people, including many women and children.

The bloodshed took place in the village of Mazraat al-Qabeer, about 20km away from Hama.

More than 20 children and 20 women were reportedly killed in the massacre.

Witnesses blame pro-government militiamen, while the government of President Bashar al-Assad accuse “armed groups”, claiming that their goal is to trigger foreign military intervention.

The village had come under heavy bombardment backed by tanks. Activists claim that even children under the age of two were stubbed. Later bodies were burnt in houses which were set on fire.

“They executed [nearly] every person in the village. Very few numbers could flee. They majority were slaughtered with knives and in a horrible and ugly way,” one activist told BBC.

This marks yet another bloodshed in Syria over the past weeks. The country has been resisting to accept a peace plan by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan, which includes a cease-fire and a daily two-hour halt to fighting, so that the injured could be evacuated.

As reported, in early June, 13 factory workers were forced off a bus and executed in a village near Qusair.

In late May, 108 people, including 49 children and 34 women, were killed in a massacre in Syria.

A spokesman for the UN’s human rights office says witnesses told investigators that pro-regime militias carried out most of the killings.

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