Syrian troops still shooting at Daraa residents

DAMASCUS, Apr 26 (AFP): Syrian troops fired on residents of the southern town of Daraa again Tuesday as a military assault on the pro-democracy protest hub continued into a second bloody day, a rights activist said. At least 25 people were killed Monday in intensive shelling of Daraa, 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of Damascus, by thousands of Syrian troops backed by tanks and snipers, activists and witnesses said. The Syrian army insisted it had been invited into the town at the request of citizens to hunt "extremist terrorist groups." Daraa has been the epicentre of protests against President Bashar al-Assad, who according to some activists has opted for a military solution to crush the demonstrations which began six weeks ago. President Bashar al-Assad, facing a nationwide challenge to his 11-year autocratic rule, sent the army into Deraa and two restive suburbs of Damascus on Monday to crush protesters, killing 20 people according to a prominent Syrian rights group. Assad's use of force, echoing his father's suppression of Islamists in Hama in 1982, was condemned by the United States, but Western countries which launched air strikes against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi have taken no action against the Syrian leader.