Syrian Forces Torturing, Killing Kids: Opposition

Syrian opposition groups say more than 25 children and teenagers have been killed in the government's crackdown in Syria—some of them after "severe torture." The Local Coordination Committees, a group that helps to organize protests, put out a statement identifying kids aged 5 to 17 who'd been found dead. Many appeared to have been the victims of random crossfire, like 12-year-old Mahmood Alkadree, who was shot four times on a trip to go buy bread.

Others, like 13-year-old Saleh Ahmad Alkhateeb, were kidnapped and found dead later, "covered with the effects of severe torture." In all, the government's crackdown is believed to have killed more than 1,000 people, according to the AP. Protests continue, but they've adapted, occurring mainly at night when the security presence is thinnest, and in many locations simultaneously. "By the time police arrive to one protest site, the protesters would have already dispersed and gone elsewhere," says one Syrian living in exile in Beirut. (More Syria stories.)