The interior ministry, in a statement, asked “citizens who have participated in or committed unlawful acts such as bearing arms, attacking security or spreading lies to surrender by May 15 and hand their weapons in to the competent authorities.”
It also called on Syrians to “supply information about saboteurs, terrorists and arms caches... they will be spared any subsequent legal consequences.”
SANA quoted an army source as saying that in addition to the 10 dead, security forces also killed five snipers who were shooting at pedestrians. The source told SANA that two members of the security forces were also killed in clashes.
Syrian protesters deny that they have weapons and are using them in the unrest, targeting 48 years of Baath Party domination in Syria. They say that they have been inspired by other popular Arab revolts that have overthrown the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt this year.
Prominent rights campaigners were also arrested in the eastern cities of Qamishli, Raqqa and in suburbs of Damascus, along with scores of ordinary Syrians active in the mass protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption.
Syrians kept up protests despite the arrests and violent repression that has resulted in the killing of at least 560 civilians by the security forces of President Bashar al-Assad, human rights groups say.
In the central city of Homs, thousands marched on Sunday chanting “downfall of the regime!”
In Rastan to the north, a funeral was held for 17 men killed when military intelligence agents fired at a protest on Friday during which the names of 50 resigning members of Mr. Assad’s Baath Party were being read out.
Signs of discontent have been also emerging in the majority Sunni Muslim ranks of the army commanded by officers from the minority Alawite sect, to which the Assad family belongs.
Foreign media are banned from Syria, making it harder to confirm accounts of events in the country.
(Mustapha Ajbaili of Al Arabiya
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