ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian interim authorities have extended curfew in several neighborhoods of the central province of Homs to late afternoon following unrest triggered by the death of a couple.
On Sunday, a man and his wife were found dead in their home in the town of Zaidel, south of Homs, the Syrian Interior Ministry reported. A curfew was later imposed in the city.
The Syrian state media reported on Monday that the curfew has been extended in ten neighborhoods to 5 pm local time.
Citing a statement from the Internal Security Command Administration in Homs, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) also reported that the command calls on all citizens to comply with the decision “to ensure the completion of ongoing field procedures.”
The initial 12-hour curfew started on Sunday at 5 pm.
The couple, reportedly from a Sunni Arab Bedouin tribe, “were found dead inside their home, and the wife’s body had been burned,” the province's Internal Security Chief, Brig. Gen. Marhaf al-Nussan was cited by the state media as saying on Sunday, adding that "sectarian slogans were also found at the crime scene, suggesting an attempt to incite strife among the residents.”
Najat Rochdi, UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, on Sunday said she was closely monitoring the alarming developments, urging “the utmost need for calm to be restored, for protection of civilians, for upholding the rule of law, and for accountability for any perpetrators of violence.”
Homs, located 162 kilometers north of the capital Damascus, is Syria’s third-largest city and home to a diverse population of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Alawites, and Christians.
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