More violence, as Syria troops accused of using children as human shields | WPN World People News

Unabated violence killed 10 more people in Syria Tuesday with government forces allegedly bombarding a residential area with mortar shells, amid a mounting pressure on President Bashar Assad following a startling UN revelation that children as young as 8 years old have been used as human shields by security forces.

The Local Coordination Committees activist group and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a mortar attack in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour hit protesters as they were dispersing in the early hours of Tuesday.

The fresh violence was reported as the UN report released Monday alleged that children have also been victims of detention, torture and sexual violence.

"Most child victims of torture described being beaten, blindfolded, subjected to stress positions, whipped with heavy electrical cables, scarred by cigarette burns and, in one recorded case, subjected to electrical shock to the genitals," the report stated

"Children were detained and tortured because their siblings or parents were assumed to be members of the opposition or they themselves were suspected of being associated with the [Free Syrian Army] FSA."

Dozens of children between ages 8 and 13 were reportedly used as human shields by pro-government forces during a raid on the village of Ayn l'Arouz in March, it said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded an immediate end to the "dangerous intensification" of violence across Syria and called on all countries with influence to urge the parties "to pull back from the brink."

The BBC quoted UN special representative Radhika Coomaraswamy saying that her team had returned from Syria with "horrific" reports.

"Many former soldiers spoke about shooting into civilian areas, seeing children, young children being killed and maimed," she said.

"We also had testimonies and saw children who had been tortured, and who carried the torture marks with them. We also heard of children being used - this was recounted to us by some children - of being put on tanks and being used as human shields so that the tanks would not be fired upon."

Source: Middle East News.Net