Syrian rebels 'take Christian village'

REBELS including al-Qaeda-linked fighters have gained control of a Christian village northeast of the capital Damascus, Syrian activists say.

Government media, however, provides a dramatically different account of the battle, suggesting regime forces are winning.

It is impossible to independently verify the reports from Maaloula, a scenic mountain community known for being one of the few places in the world where residents still speak the ancient Middle Eastern language of Aramaic.

The village is on a UNESCO list of tentative world heritage sites.

The rebel advance into the area this week was spearheaded by the Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, exacerbating fears among Syrians and religious minorities about the role played by Islamic extremists within the rebel ranks.

It was not immediately clear why the army couldn't sufficiently reinforce its troops to prevent the rebel advance in the area only 43km from Damascus.

Some activists say that Assad's forces are stretched thin, fighting in other areas in the north and south of the country.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Nusra Front backed by another group, the Qalamon Liberation Front, moved into the village after heavy clashes with the army late on Saturday.

"The army pulled back to the outskirts of the village and both (rebel groups) are in total control of Maaloula now," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

He said pro-government fighters remain inside the village, in hiding.

Initially, troops loyal to President Bashar Assad moved into Maaloula early on Saturday, he said, "but they left when rebels started pouring into the village".

A Maaloula resident said the rebels, many of them sporting beards and shouting Allahu Akbar, had attacked Christian homes and churches.

"They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village," said the resident, reached by telephone from neighbouring Jordan.

"So many people fled the village for safety."

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Guatemala gunmen kill 10, wound 19

MEN firing from cars poured bullets into three cantinas in a rural town in Guatemala, killing at least 10 people and wounding 19.

Firefighters' spokesman Sergio Vasquez says the attacks happened on Saturday night in the town of San Jose Nacahuil, some 18km northeast of Guatemala City.

Firefighters are often the first emergency personnel to respond to such incidents in Guatemala.

Vasquez says several children are among the wounded, apparently because they lived in the buildings housing the bars.

He says nobody has yet been arrested and officials are not sure of the motive for the attack in the town, which is accessible only by dirt roads that wind through mountainous terrain.

Nacahuil resident Victor Tepen said his nephew Javier Tepen, 20, went out Saturday night and never returned. He was identified as one of those killed in the attack.

"Nothing like this had ever happened before," said the elder Tepen.

"We have never seen a massacre like this. This is a big blow for the town."

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