Syrian security forces killed six people yesterday, activists said as a Russian envoy visited Damascus and the EU agreed to ban oil imports from the country over its brutal crackdown on protesters.

A child was among five people killed when troops and security forces opened fire during search operations in the Sarmin district of northwestern Idlib province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

One person died when part of his home was levelled as forces raked houses in Sarmin with heavy machine-gun fire, said the head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman.

At least 60 people were also wounded in Sarmin and six houses were partly destroyed, he said by telephone.

A sixth person was killed when security forces raided his home at dawn in the town of Qara outside Damascus during an arrest operation, the Local Coordination Committees reported.

Around 10 trucks and armoured vehicles rumbled into Qara, said the group which organises anti-regime protests and has militants on the ground across Syria.

It said about 40 people whose names were on a “wanted list” were detained.

Meanwhile, troops backed by tanks and personnel carriers early yesterday stormed the village of Hit, two kilometres from the border with Lebanon, south of the central city of Homs, Abdel Rahman said.

“There has been high intensity gunfire since 9:00 am (0600 GMT)”, he said, adding that at least five people were wounded and 13 were arrested.

“The homes of activists wanted by the authorities were torched,” he added.

Witnesses across the border said dozens of Syrian refugees poured into northern Lebanon yesterday as gunfire was heard and smoke billowed over the frontier.

“Some 12 families have crossed into Lebanon from the border town of Hit,” Mohammed al-Khatib, a van driver who had been transferring the refugees from the crossing, said.

A Lebanese security official said 50-year-old Ali al-Ahmad, a Syrian refugee from Hit, was hospitalised on the Lebanese side on Monday with two gunshot wounds to his legs. Thousands of Syrians have fled into Lebanon in recent months, often using illegal border crossings, to escape the unrest gripping their country.

Activists also reported six people killed by security forces on Sunday.

More than 2,200 people have been killed in the Syrian regime’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests since mid-March, according to the United Nations.