BBC News with Fiona MacDonald

A resident in the Syrian port of Latakia has given an eyewitness

account

of the day-long land and sea attack by government forces against democracy activists there. The resident known as Fouad told the BBC what happened.

"At 6:00am this morning, heavy and

intensive

firing began from various light and heavy weapons. We heard very loud explosions in the al-Ramleh and Masbah al-Shaab neighbourhoods, where the army was attempting to storm the area from three different directions. That was this morning. Now the army has taken the area. I witnessed this with my own eyes from the rooftop of a building."

He also said they had been shelled by tanks and navy gunboats. The United Nations said it was

gravely

concerned at the shelling of a Palestinian refugee camp in Latakia.

At least 20 people have been killed in an attack in central Afghanistan. Armed men launched an assault on a compound used by the governor of Parwan province. He escaped unscathed. From Kabul, Quentin Sommerville.

Six suicide bombers made it inside and an unknown number of gunmen. There were at least two large explosions, and gunfire could be heard; smoke was seen rising from the area. The attack lasted several hours. Most of the dead are thought to be civilians. Police and soldiers have closed surrounding streets. The Taliban say they carried out the attack. In what some see as a change in tactics, the insurgents have launched a number of large-scale assaults against political leaders across the country. Parwan is usually a