AMMAN: Syrian police killed at least six civilians early on Tuesday in an assault on the eastern Damascus suburb of Erbin, residents said, as President Bashar al-Assad's forces intensify attacks on urban centres defying his rule.

“People marched after the nightly Ramadan prayers. Security cars and pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on their beds entered Erbin around midnight and assembled at the main roundabout before branching out in the streets and firing at neighbourhoods,” a resident told Reuters by phone.

An activist in the suburb said: “Tens of people are wounded. Six are dead, of whom three have been identified.”