More than 100,000 civilians were trapped inside the restive area of Baba Amr, in the central Syrian province of Homs, due to heavy shelling that had killed 24 on Tuesday, February 14 an activist said.

“The shelling is so intense. People are trapped and they do not have the right shelters,” Omar Homsi told DPA by satellite phone.

“They are shelling any car that tries to leave the area,” he said, according to M&C.

More than 6,000 people have been killed since President Bashar al-Assad's forces launched a crackdown on protesters calling for democracy in March, according to monitoring groups. The United Nations put the figure at more than 5,400 in late December, before it gave up counting the toll, citing difficulties on the ground.