The Syrian military on Friday shelled areas on the outskirts of the capital and in the central part of the country, opposition activists said, as the uprising against the government entered its 16th month.

The sound of heavy shelling and machine gunfire was heard overnight as troops and opposition rebels clashed, Haytham al-Abdullah, an activist based on the outskirts of Damascus, told dpa.

He said troops had rounded up and executed nine people in Hamouriyeh near the city.

The state-run news agency SANA meanwhile reported the arrest of "terrorist Mohammed Hussam al-Sadaki, from al-Qaeda" who allegedly wanted to blow himself up inside a mosque during Friday prayers.

The arrest came a day after a bomb blast in Damascus injured 14 people.

"The terrorist confessed that there are other people who are supposed to blow themselves up in a number of mosques in Damascus," the news agency said.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the unrest in Syria since mid-March 2011.

The opposition Local Coordination Committees, which documents the countrywide violence, said Thursday's death toll reached 78.

According to the opposition, more than 14,000 people have been killed in Syria since a pro-democracy uprising started


[Source: DPA]