19 Palestinian refugees killed in Syria in March: NGO

By Hedaya al-Saidi

GAZA CITY, Palestine

A total of 19 Palestinian refugees were killed in war-torn Syria in March, a London-based NGO has said.

In a statement released Sunday, the “Working Group for Palestinian Refugees in Syria” NGO said six were killed by firearms, three by bombardments and two by bombing attacks.

Five refugees died of blockade and lack of medical care, two executed and one tortured to death by Syrian regime forces, the NGO claimed.

The group said seven of the fatalities were reported in Damascus, four in Damascus countryside, four in the northern Aleppo province and three in the western Daraa province.

According to the NGO, some 3,474 Palestinian refugees have been killed in conflict-ravaged Syria since 2011.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.