30/08/2012 19:21
8000 security forces killed in Syria
More than 8,000 members of the security forces have been killed since Syria's anti-regime uprising broke out in March 2011, the director of the capital's Tishrin military hospital said on Thursday.
"I estimate that at least 8,000 soldiers and members of the security forces have been killed since the beginning of the crisis," the director, a doctor who also holds the rank of general, said on condition of not being named, the AFP reports.
"Approximately 70 percent of military casualties are transported to our hospital and the rest are sent to hospitals in other provinces," he added.
Around 60 percent of the victims were killed by gunfire, while 35 percent died in explosions, including anti-tank rockets, and five percent were "slaughtered or beheaded," according to the general, reports the Daily Star referring to AFP.