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The United Nations special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, declared Bashar al-Assad's government forces responsible for an attack near the Syrian village of Hama that killed over 200 people, mostly civilians, Friday. Annan said he was "shocked and appalled" by the "intense fighting, significant casualties, and the confirmed use of heavy weaponry such as artillery, tanks and helicopters." The massacre reportedly started early Thursday morning in Tremeh when government forces allegedly surrounded the village and opened fire with mortars and artillery. If the reports are accurate, it would be the largest single-day massacre in Syria’s 16-month crackdown. Human-rights activists have estimated that 17,000 have died in the violence so far. Syrian state television reported that security personnel had been killed in the fighting in Tremeh, but blamed “armed terrorist groups.”