Syria challenges Homs video

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DAMASCUS, Syria, March 12 (UPI) -- The Syrian government said recent video depicting mutilated bodies of civilians was evidence that terrorist groups were running rampant in Homs.

Video footage broadcast by Arab media outlets al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera allegedly show the bodies of what opposition groups said were victims of the latest attack by Syrian forces on the city of Homs.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an umbrella group opposing the Syrian government, said the video depicted a "massacre orchestrated by the regime," CNN reports.

But the official Syrian Arab News Agency said the video depicted the work of terrorists. SANA quoted Homs residents as saying some of the bodies shown in the video were those of relatives thought to be kidnapped by terrorist groups more than a month ago.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, acting as a joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to the crisis, said following weekend meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad his primary concern was the welfare of the Syrian people.

"I presented a set of concrete proposals which would have a real impact on the situation on the ground and which will help launch a process aimed at putting an end to this crisis," he said in a statement. "I told the president that my main preoccupation is the welfare of the Syrian people -- that we should place the interests of the people at the center of all our efforts."

Damascus said there was no room for dialogue while the conflict continued.