Syria has denied that a mass grave had been found near the southern city of Deraa which the army entered last month to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

"Reports of a mass grave in Deraa are completely untrue," state television quoted the Interior Ministry as saying, adding  they were part of a "campaign of incitement" against Syria.

Deraa residents said on Monday villagers had pulled 13 bodies from a single grave discovered in farmland on the  outskirts  of the southern city.

They said the bodies included those of a 62-year-old man and four of his children, along with bodies of a woman and child.

The rest of the bodies were unidentified men, they said.

A Syrian rights group, the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, also reported a mass grave had been found near Deraa on Monday morning. It said troops had surrounded the area to prevent people taking the bodies away.

Many international media organisations have been barred from Syria, making it difficult to verify accounts.

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