NICOSIA (AFP) – Syrian security forces killed 26 people at the funerals on Saturday of protesters killed in and around the southern town of Daraa the previous day, human rights activists said.

"Police and security services broke up peaceful demonstrations on Saturday by firing live ammunition, causing the death of 26 people," six Syrian rights groups said in a joint statement.

The funerals had been held for 17 people gunned down in the southern agricultural town of Daraa, flashpoint of more than three weeks of anti-regime protests, and another 10 killed in surrounding villages on Friday.