Syrian security forces are alleged to have executed 52 people belonging to the Alawite minority in the coastal province of Latakia.
Footage seen by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights shows dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled up in the garden of a house in Latakia.
An interior ministry source told the country's official news agency Sana that individual violations had occurred on the coast and pledged to put a stop to them.
A US media house says it has not been able to verify claims that the killings were committed by the forces of Syria's new rulers.
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