Secret police raided homes near Damascus overnight, rights campaigners said on Sunday, April 24, as popular opposition to Syria's authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad increased following bloody attacks on pro-democracy protesters.

Security forces and gunmen loyal to Assad have killed at least 112 people over the last two days. They fired at protesters demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption on Friday and on mass funerals for victims a day later.

The attacks were the bloodiest, and the demonstrations the biggest, since protests erupted in the southern city of Deraa near the border with Jordan over five weeks ago.

Security operatives in plain clothes wielding assault rifles broke into homes in the suburb of Harasta just after midnight on Sunday, arresting activists in the area, known as the Ghouta, or the old garden district of the capital, Reuters reported.