20 reportedly killed in Syrian suburb; government says it's cleansing terrorists

A Syrian demonstrator shouts during an anti-regime protest in Aleppo on Friday, October 5. Tensions rippled across Turkey a day after Syrian shells struck a Turkish border town and killed five people. See more of CNN's best photography.

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Showdown in Syria

(CNN) -- Syrian forces killed at least 20 people in a Damascus suburb Sunday, opposition activists said, as the government said it "cleansed" the area of terrorists.

"Units of the armed forces cleansed al-Hameh and Qudsayya areas in Damascus countryside of armed terrorist groups, declaring them safe areas," the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Sunday.

But opposition members painted a different picture of al-Hameh, saying forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad "carried out a massacre in the city and field-executed 20 individuals."

They were among the 51 people reportedly killed nationwide Sunday as the Syrian civil war rages into its 19th month.

In the beleaguered province of Homs, warplanes reportedly shelled a water plant in the city of Qusair, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.

Less than an hour later, the LCC said the rebel Free Syrian Army shot down a warplane in Qusair.

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