At least 25 killed in Syria’s Aleppo province

PanARMENIAN.Net - At least 25 men were found killed in northern Syria's Aleppo province on Friday, June 22 and Syrian state media said they were victims of a massacre by anti-government "terrorists," Reuters reported.

A pro-opposition monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, put the toll at 26. It said the dead men were thought to be members of the "Shabbiha", a militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad that the opposition has accused of carrying out several mass killings itself.

"Armed terrorist groups committed a brutal massacre against 25 citizens in Darat Azzah," state television said.

More people were missing but their fate was unknown, it said.

The Assad government habitually refers to the rebel forces fighting to overthrow it as armed terrorists.

A video link sent by the Observatory showed men covered in blood and piled on top of each other on the side of a road. Many wore army fatigues but some were just wearing t-shirts.

A voice off-screen says the men are "regime Shabbiha."

Shabbiha militiamen, who come from the same Alawite sect as Assad, are accused by the opposition of widespread abuses against civilians over the course of the 15-month uprising.