Eight women and girls have been killed in intense government shelling in the southern Syrian province of Daraa, activists said today.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the late-night attack on Karak, in eastern Daraa, killed four women and four girls. The Observatory relies on a wide network of activists on the ground in Syria for its information.

Syria's state news agency, Sana, said regime forces were chasing "terrorist cells" in Daraa province, including along the border with Jordan. It did not mention Karak.

It said 18 opposition fighters including Jordanians, a Saudi and a Chechen, were killed. It did not refer to civilian casualties.

The United Nations says more than 6,000 children are among more than 93,000 people killed in Syria's civil war.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.