Opposition website describes a state of security breakdown in the central province as loyalist militants engage in infighting and civilians settle disputes with guns

Hama province is witnessing more than a hundred murders and attempted murders a month due to spread of weapons from pro-Assad gangs, judicial sources revealed to Zaman al-Wasl.

The sources pointed to the especially grim situation in the city of Salamiyah, which accounts for half of the cases documented and being investigated.

According to the sources, the regime-backed gangs settled in Hama and its countryside where the weak authority of the regime is not enough to hold these militants to account for crimes of murder.

According to the sources, a significant proportion of the killings that occur outside the battlefields are documented as being committed by "unknown" perpetrators.

While some of the murders investigated by authorities are noted as being committed by unknown culprits, in other cases where the perpetrator is clear, police may refrain from pursuing the murderer, often due to the criminal’s links to officials.

A number murders are said to have occurred through gangs attempting to settle their accounts within the community of mercenaries, while other times ordinary people are killed after being caught up in the chaos.

The sources mentioned one recent case in which M. Shabaan, a female medical student, was shot in the head in daylight while was standing inside a local governorate building. The investigations could not identify the shooter, while no one has been able to offer an explanation why someone would want want to kill her. The student remains in Hama Hospital in intensive care.

On Wednesday, a bus driver at Hama bus station was shot by "unknown" assailants despite being in a crowded area surrounded by security guards from among the "competent authorities."

Meanwhile, the city of Salamiyah witnessed another murder in which a young engineering student, Alaa al-Ezzo, was killed for intervening when a 70-year-old man insulted a group of children playing near his car. The elderly man, Mohamad Dabiyat, killed the student with a bullet.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.