Death toll climbs to 36 in Syria

The dissidents have been calling for the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since mid-March.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights told dpa late Monday "27 civilians were killed in the province of Homs."

"The military operation against Homs province is continuing and is getting worst," he said.

Abdel Rahman said nine army troops were killed across Syria in various operations on Monday.

Earlier, a bomb blast detonated by a remote control device killed an officer and three soldiers, Abdel Rahman said.

"Gunmen, suspected of being army defectors, blew up a bomb by remote control as an army vehicle passed by Ihsem, in the countryside of the north-western province of Idlib," Abdel said.

"The remote controlled bombs are now a new method and we started hearing about them earlier this week in different attacks against Syrian army troops."

In the past 24 hours, Syrian army troops have been targeted by "several attacks" carried out by "terrorists gangs", the state-run media reported.

The Syrian government has blamed the unrest in the country, ongoing since mid-March, on armed terrorists financed by the West and some Arab countries to destabilize Syria.

Activists said earlier Monday that Syrian soldiers fought gunmen suspected of being army defectors in the flashpoint central province of Homs, leaving five troops dead.

At least 17 people were also wounded in a clash between army defectors and security forces in Idlib, near the Syrian-Turkish border, the activist added; Kazinform cites Trend News.

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