Syria: 3 killed amid clash during Alawite protest

Three people have been killed by security forces during protests by members of Syria's Alawite minority in the coastal city of Latakia on Sunday, a UK-based war monitor said.

According to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the three deaths came as Syrian security forces tried dispersing the protests.

Syrian authorities said they "contained the situation" but did not confirming their forces had opened fire.

Security forces reportedly tried to separate two groups of protesters that clashed with each other, members of the Alawite minority and Sunni Muslim supporters of Syria's new Islamist authorities, also by shooting in the air.

According to an AP report, pro-government demonstrators threw rocks at the Alawites, with another group hitting a counterdemonstrator. It wasn't initially clear how many people were injured in the clashes between the two groups.

The western inland city of Homs, too, saw violent clashes, SOHR reported, with several people injured as a result.