Syrian security forces shot dead five people and wounded more than 100 others in Talbisa and Rastan yesterday after tanks encircled the towns near the central city of Homs, an activist said.

The activist, who asked not to be named, said three people were killed in Talbisa and another two in nearby Rastan. More than 100 wounded were taken to hospitals in Homs, a flashpoint of anti-regime protests.

Another activist, contacted by telephone from Nicosia, said several people were wounded as security forces unleashed “intense gunfire” in Rastan and Talbisa, after tanks sealed off both towns.

“Dozens of tanks at dawn encircled the towns of Rastan and Talbisa, as well as the village of Deir Maaleh,” the activist said.

The three are all located between Homs, which is Syria’s third-largest city, and Hama, on a stretch of highway north of Damascus that was cut off by tanks during the operation.

Security forces were carrying out searches in Talbisa, where a large crowd took to the streets on Friday for an anti-regime demonstration, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Also yesterday, Syrian doctor and activist Mohammed Awad al-Ammar was charged with “damaging the prestige of the state and spreading false information,” Abdul Rahman said by telephone.

The doctor, who works at a hospital near Daraa, a hotspot of the revolt, was arrested on April 29 shortly after meeting with a high-level military official to propose a “democratic solution” to Syria’s political crisis, he said.

On Friday, security forces killed at least 12 protesters in dispersing demonstrations against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to activists.