Syrian military forces have clashed with army defectors using machine guns and heavy weaponry in the country's east, according to anti-government activists.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 Syrian soldiers were killed in the clashes that took place late last night in the town of Deir el-Zour.

The group said that there were also several casualties among the group of armed dissidents known as the Free Syrian Army.

The Local Co-ordination Committees activist network also reported fierce clashes, followed by house-to-house raids by troops searching for defectors.

Syria's eight-month uprising has grown increasingly militarised.

Yesterday, the military blamed terrorists for an attack a day earlier in the central city of Homs, saying six pilots and four others were killed in an ambush.