Syrian forces shoot dead 4 protesters - activist

BEIRUT, July 8 Reuters) - Syrian forces shot dead four people protesting against President Bashar al-Assad on Friday, a prominent rights campaigner said.

Ammar Qurabi, Cairo-based head of the Syrian National Human Rights Organisation, said three people were killed in the town of Maarat al-Numaan on the eastern edge of Idlib province, and another was killed in the central Damascus district of Midan.

"There is also heavy shooting on protesters in the city of Homs and in the Damascus suburb of Saqba," Qurabi told Reuters. He said security forces killed three Harasta residents in overnight assault on suburb.