Up to 200 people have been killed in an attack on the Syrian village of Tremseh, opposition¹ activists² say.

叙利亚反对派活动分子称，Tremseh村收到袭击，多达200人丧生。

Residents told the activists that the village, in Hama province, was attacked with helicopter gunships and tanks.

Pro-government Shabiha militia³ later went in on foot and carried out execution-style killings⁵, they said.

State media said "terrorist groups" had carried out a massacre⁶（屠杀） to raise tensions ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on the Syria observer mission.

If it is confirmed, the Tremseh attack would be one of the bloodiest⁷ single events in the Syria conflict.

Some 16,000 people are thought to have been killed since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March 2011.

Individual reports of casualties often cannot be independently verified, as Syria severely⁸ restricts journalists' freedom of movement.

High-level defection

Reports suggest the army was trying to take back Tremseh after it had fallen into rebel hands.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says both sides agreed many people were killed in Tremseh, but have totally different versions of what happened.

Activists say government forces surrounded the village on Thursday morning and heavily bombarded it for several hours, killing⁴ many people.

Pro-government militias⁹ from nearby Alawite villages then moved in, they said, killing many more villagers and setting fire to houses. Others who tried to flee through fields were also gunned down, the activists said.

Protests condemning¹⁰ the attack have been reported in Damascus, Idlib and Hama.

State media said gunmen from what they termed armed terrorist groups had attacked the village in the morning, shooting dead dozens of people.

The Sana news agency said on Friday: "The bloodthirsty media in collaboration¹¹ with gangs of armed terrorists massacred residents of Tremseh village... to sway public opinion against Syria and its people and provoke international intervention¹² on the eve of a UN Security Council meeting."