Syrian troops fought with ''armed gangs'' in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur yesterday,

Syrian troops fought with ''armed gangs'' in the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur yesterday, state television reported, as international outrage mounted at Syria's brutal crackdown on protesters.

''Army divisions entered Jisr al-Shughur and purged the state hospital of armed groups,'' the report said.

''Violent clashes pitched the army divisions against armed groups positioned inside and around the town,'' it added.

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Jisr al-Shughur, in north-western Syria near the border with Turkey, has been the focus of military operations for days, following what the authorities said was the massacre of 120 policemen by ''armed gangs'' in the town last Monday.

Human rights activists and residents deny the allegations of a massacre and say a number of policemen were executed by other security force members when they refused to fire on protesters in the town.

Harrowing reports of atrocities committed during Syria's crackdown, including deserting soldiers' accounts of massacred civilians, have sparked fresh international outrage.

The United Nations chief, Ban Ki-moon, expressed concern at the mounting death toll, while the US and the European Union urged the President, Bashar al-Assad, to let aid workers in.

As the death toll mounted, detailed accounts emerged from some of the thousands who fled to Turkey from the bloodshed in Jisr al-Shughur.

Among them were Syrian army deserters who told of atrocities committed by soldiers, who were under the threat of execution if they disobeyed orders.

Tahal al-Lush described the operation, in Ar-Rastan, a town of 50,000 people in Homs province, that had pushed him to desert.

''We were told that people were armed there. But when we arrived, we saw that they were ordinary civilians. We were ordered to shoot them,'' he said.

''When we entered the houses, we opened fire on everyone, the young, the old … Women were raped in front of their husbands and children,'' he said.

The turmoil has pushed 4600 Syrians to seek refuge in Turkey, a government official said.

Both the EU and the US are backing a UN Security Council resolution proposed by Britain and France that condemns Syria for its crackdown.