Syrian troops battle hundreds of renegade soldiers

Syrian troops fought intense battles with hundreds of fellow soldiers who have turned their weapons against the regime of President Bashar Assad, revealing the increasingly militarized nature of an uprising started months ago by peaceful protesters.  

On Friday tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country as they do each week after Friday prayers, braving gunfire by government forces who have waged a relentless crackdown. At least 11 protesters were killed and scores were wounded, human rights groups said.    

Around 250 tanks and other army vehicles began entering the town early in the day, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.     

The Syrian government has banned foreign journalists and placed heavy restrictions on local media coverage, making it difficult to independently verify events on the ground. The U.N. says some 2,700 people have already died in the government crackdown since mid-March.      

The town of Rastan, from which the Syrian army draws many of its Sunni Muslim recruits, has seen some of the largest numbers of defections to date.  

The comments by the unidentified official were carried by state-run news agency SANA on Friday and were a government acknowledgment of the stiff resistance in Rastan. Many gunmen were also killed or arrested, the official said.  

The government describes its armed opponents as "terrorist armed groups," not army defectors.