THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT has denied reports by human rights organisations that at least one mass-grave has been uncovered in southern Syrian city of Deraa.

The Syrian government has said that the reports by protesters, who claimed that more than 20 bodies were removed from one grave and more than 40 others were found in nearby fields, were “completely untrue”, the BBC reports.

The Guardian reports that hundreds of people are still unaccounted for following a brutal government crackdown on anti-establishment protests. Wissam Tarif of the rights group Insan is quoted by the newspaper as saying that victims were found with their hands tied behind their backs.

Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer has told Al Jazeera that at least 27 people have been reported dead following a three-day attack on the town of Tel Kelakh, situated a few kilometres from the Lebanese border.

Protesters have called for a nationwide strike today, with the Facebook page of the Syrian Revolution 2011 saying: “It will be a day of punishment for the regime from the free revolutionaries … Massive protests, no schools, no universities, no stores or restaurants and even no taxis. Nothing.”

The video  below shows what appears to show the mass grave outside Deraa.

(Warning: graphic content)

Mass grave of anti-regime protesters found in Syria, local residents say >