DAMASCUS, Feb 4: Syrian forces killed hundreds of people in an assault on the city of Homs, activists and world leaders said on Saturday, the bloodiest night of an 11-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. US President Barack Obama denounced the ‘unspeakable assault’, demanded that Mr Assad leave power immediately and called for UN action against the Syrian leader’s ‘relentless brutality’.

“Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help,” Mr Obama said in a statement.

“Any government that brutalises and massacres its people does not deserve to govern.”

France called the Homs assault a ‘massacre’ and a ‘crime against humanity’. Turkey said hundreds had been killed and the United Nations must act.

Death tolls cited by activists and opposition groups ranged between 237 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in Mr Assad’s crackdown on protests and one of the bloodiest episodes in the Arab Spring of revolts that have swept the region.

Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khalidiya neighbourhood at around 8pm (1800 GMT) on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses were completely destroyed with families inside.

“We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads,” said Mr Waleed, a resident of Khalidiya.

“The morning has come and we have discovered more bodies, bodies are on the streets,” he said. “Some are still under the rubble. Our movement is better but there is little we can do without ambulances and other things.”

An activist in the area contacted by Reuters said residents were using primitive tools to rescue people. They feared many were buried under rubble.

“We are not getting any help, there are no ambulances or anything. We are removing the people with our own hands,” he said, adding there were only two field hospitals treating the wounded. Each one had a capacity to deal with 30 people, but he estimated the total number of wounded at 500.

“We have dug out at least 100 bodies so far, they are placed in the two mosques.”

A third Khalidiya resident, speaking by telephone with wailing and cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ audible in the background, said at least 40 corpses had been retrieved from streets and damaged buildings.

Embassies stormed As news of the violence spread, angry crowds of Syrians stormed their country’s embassies in Cairo, London, Berlin and Kuwait and protested in other cities.

Syria denied shelling Homs and said Internet video of corpses was staged. It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access.

Tunisia announced it was expelling the Syrian ambassador and revoking recognition of Mr Assad’s government. The head of a committee of parliamentarians from Arab states said Arab countries should expel Syrian ambassadors and cut ties.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “If the Syrian administration is given the understanding that the current situation of hundreds of people dying daily can continue and the UN will not take a stance against it, the atmosphere of clashes will increase more.”

It was not immediately clear what had prompted Syrian forces to launch such an intense bombardment, just as diplomats at the Security Council were discussing the draft resolution supporting the Arab League demand for Mr Assad to yield power.

Houses on fire Video footage on the Internet showed at least eight bodies assembled in a room, one of them with the top half of its head blown off. A voice on the video said the bombardment was continuing as the footage was filmed.

Syria’s state news agency SANA denied Homs was shelled, accusing rebels of killing people and presenting them as casualties for propaganda purposes before the UN vote.

“The corpses displayed by some channels of incitement are martyrs, citizens kidnapped, killed and photographed by armed terrorist groups as if they are victims of the supposed shelling,” it quoted a ‘media source’ as saying.

The Syrian government says it is facing a foreign-backed insurgency and that most of the dead have been its troops. SANA reported funerals of 22 members of the security forces. —Reuters