An explosion killed at least 14 people on a minibus carrying prisoners in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib today, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The British-based group, which monitors a 10-month-old uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, gave no further details. No independent confirmation was available.
In other violence, heavy fighting broke out between the Syrian army and soldiers who have defected to join anti-Assad insurgents in an area near the border with Turkey, Al Jazeera television reported.
It gave no further details of the clashes which it said were in the city of Jisr al-Shughour.
Menawhile the Arab League looks set to keep monitors in Syria, given the lack of any Arab or world consensus on how to halt bloodshed, an Arab diplomatic source said.
Sudanese general Mohammed al-Dabi, head of the 165-strong monitoring team, was due in Cairo today to submit his report for a League committee on Syria to consider the next day.
Hundreds of people were killed during the month-long observer mission, despatched to assess Syria's implementation of an Arab peace plan originally agreed in early November.
Syria, keen to avoid tougher action by the Arab League or by the United Nations, has tried to show it is complying with the plan, which demanded a halt to killings, a military pullout from the streets, the release of detainees, access for the monitors and the media, and a political dialogue with opposition groups.
"Yes, there is not complete satisfaction with Syria's co-operation with the monitoring mission," the Arab source said.
"But in the absence of any international plan to deal with Syria, the best option is for the monitors to stay."
Critics say the Arab monitors have only given Assad diplomatic cover to pursue a bloody crackdown on his opponents.This month the Syrian authorities have freed hundreds of detainees, announced an amnesty, struck a ceasefire deal with armed rebels in one town, allowed the Arab observers into some trouble spots and admitted a gaggle of foreign journalists.
Dr Assad also promised political reforms, while vowing iron-fist treatment of the "terrorists" trying to topple him.
Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition Syrian National Council which has called for international action to protect civilians in Syria, was also in the Egyptian capital for meetings with opposition colleagues and Arab League officials.
Western powers remain sharply critical of what French president Nicolas Sarkozy denounced yesterday as Dr Assad's "ferocious repression of his people", but have failed to overcome Chinese and Russian opposition to any UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria or imposing sanctions.
The United States and the European Union have toughened their own punitive measures, but have no desire to mount a Libya-style military intervention to help Dr Assad's opponents, who include armed insurgents as well as peaceful protesters.
Washington warned yesterday that it may soon close its embassy in Syria due to worsening security conditions and said it believed Dr Assad no longer had full control of the country.
US concern about the safety of its mission in Damascus, which was attacked by a pro-Assad crowd in July, intensified after three deadly blasts in the Syrian capital in recent weeks, blamed by Syrian authorities on al-Qaeda suicide bombers.
Reuters