Witness: Dead bodies left out in Syrian city under siege

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS Director of Kandahar's prison is among 20 held The escape was an embarrassment to authorities The Taliban claimed responsibility for the escape Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The head of a Kandahar prison where a mass escape occurred this week was among 20 people arrested Thursday on suspicion of assisting the jailbreak, a senior prison official told CNN. Suspicions have run high that -- given the ease and scale of the escape -- there was some inside help at the prison. Guards as well as officials on duty during the night of the escape were arrested.

Syrian security forces have been accused of launching a violent crackdown in the city of Daraa.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Residents of Daraa are afraid to go out to collect the dead, a resident says
  • The city has been without power or medicine for days, the witness says
  • Snipers and shelling are keeping people in their homes, according to the source
  • The United Nations says more than 300 have been killed since mid-March

(CNN) — Bodies lie on the streets of the Syrian city of Daraa, and injured people are in danger of dying because residents are too scared to leave the shelter of their homes with the city under siege by security forces, a resident told CNN.

There are hundreds of snipers on the roofs of buildings, and security forces are shelling the city with mortars and anti-aircraft weapons, the eyewitness said.

Residents have not had electricity, children’s milk or medicine for the last four days, said the witness, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

CNN was not able to independently confirm the account.

But the United Nations Security Council debated Syria on Wednesday after concluding that more than 300 demonstrators had been killed by security forces since mid-March.

Since then, the violence has spread to cities across the country, the United Nations’ under-secretary-general for political affairs, Lynn Pascoe, noted in a televised meeting.

“Despite the promise of reform, in fact, the government crackdown has intensified,” he said.

In some cities, food and water, medical care and services were in short supply, he said.

From Friday to Sunday, more than 100 people have been killed, he said.

The Security Council failed to agree on a response to the situation Wednesday.

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