Image caption Another video showed the bodies of those killed near Qusair laid out on the floor of a building 
 
 Activists have released a video which they say shows another mass killing of civilians by a pro-government militia in Syria - the third in a week. 
 
 Thirteen factory workers were forced off a bus and executed by shabiha members in a village near Qusair, in the west of the country, they said. 
 
 Correspondents say the video shows a group of bodies with hideous injuries. 
 
 The UN Human Rights Council has meanwhile begun an emergency session to discuss the violence in Syria. 
 
 It is expected to blame pro-government forces for last week's massacre in Houla, in which more than 100 people died, including 49 children. 
 
 On Thursday, a Syrian government investigation into the killings blamed armed rebel groups seeking to trigger foreign military intervention. 
 
 The US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, dismissed the finding as a "blatant lie", for which there was no factual evidence. 
 
 UN verification 
 
 On Thursday evening, activists posted on the internet two videos showing the bodies of the 13 men who they said had been killed in al-Buwaida al-Sharqiya, a village between Qusair and the city of Homs, earlier that day. 
 
 Taldou, Houla region The region of Houla, in the west of Syria, comprises several villages and small towns 
 
 The village of Taldou lies around 2km south-west of the main town, also called Houla 
 
 The area is in the province of Homs, which has seen heavy fighting in recent months 
 
 Houla's villages are predominantly Sunni Muslim, but the region is ringed by a number of Alawite villages - the sect of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad Satellite clues to Houla massacre Houla: How a massacre unfolded Timeline: Syria's massacres 
 
 One video showed a group of bodies sprawled on the ground, with hideous injuries consistent with their having been shot dead at close range in the head or stomach, reports the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut. 
 
 Another video showed the bodies laid out on the floor of a building, with relatives grieving over them, our correspondent adds. 
 
 Activists said the murdered men were workers from a fertiliser factory whose bus was intercepted by shabiha members. They first of all robbed the workers, then took them off the bus, forced them to chant pro-government slogans and executed them, the activists added. 
 
 The account cannot be independently verified, but twice in the past week, UN ceasefire observers on the ground have corroborated similar claims from activists - most recently the killing of 13 men in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, and before that, the massacre in the Houla area of Homs province. 
 
 Residents of the village of Taldou said the shabiha had been sent into their village early on Saturday after the Syrian army unleashed a barrage of heavy weapons late on Friday in response to a local anti-government protest. 
 
 The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said most of the 108 victims had been shot at close range or stabbed. No more than 20 had been killed by tank and artillery fire preceding the raid, it added. 
 
 'Wanton killings' 
 
 The UN Human Rights Council, the world's top human rights body, is meeting in emergency session to discuss Syria and is expected to condemn the Houla massacre in the strongest possible terms. 
 
 Image caption The Houla massacre has sparked international outrage and led many to demand intervention 
 
 A draft resolution refers to "the wanton killings of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse by pro-regime elements and a series of government artillery and tank shellings of a residential neighbourhood", and demands that Syria allow in human rights investigators and aid agencies immediately. 
 
 But the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the 47-member council has no real power. It cannot impose sanctions on Syria, neither can it order the UN Security Council to act. 
 
 And, our correspondent adds, with continued disagreement within the UN - neither Russia nor China supported the council meeting - and continued fighting in Syria, the prospect of an end to human rights violations, let alone the prosecution of those responsible, seems a very long way off. 
 
 Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to face pressure over Syria from the leaders of Germany and France when he visits Berlin and Paris. Russia has blocked Security Council action against Syria's government. 
 
 UK Foreign Secretary William Hague is meanwhile scheduled to meet representatives of the Syrian opposition in Turkey. 
 
 Mr Hague told the BBC that the situation was so grave and deteriorating so rapidly that all options were still on the table. 
 
 He warned that military intervention would have to be on a much bigger scale than in Libya and have to have "very broad international support". ||||| Media caption Syria's foreign ministry said the Houla massacre was carried out by armed gangs 
 
 A Syrian investigation into the Houla massacre has blamed the atrocities on rebels trying to provoke international intervention. 
 
 The official in charge of the inquiry categorically denied any government role in last week's killings. 
 
 Activists say Syrian troops or pro-government militia were behind the deaths of more than 100 people - many of them children. 
 
 The US ambassador to the UN called the Syrian account "a blatant lie". 
 
 "There is no factual evidence, including that provided by the UN observers that would substantiate that rendition of events," Susan Rice said. 
 
 UN observers have said government forces were active in the area at the time. 
 
 General Qassem Jamal Suleiman, who headed the Syrian government's commission of inquiry into the massacre, said hundreds of rebel gunmen carried out the slaughter after launching a co-ordinated attack on five security checkpoints. 
 
 He told a news conference that the aim had been to implicate the government and to ignite sectarian strife in Syria. 
 
 "Government forces did not enter the area where the massacre occurred, not before the massacre and not after it," he said. 
 
 He said the victims had been families "who refused to oppose the government and were at odds with the armed groups". 
 
 "The aim of these armed groups is to bring foreign military intervention against the country in any form and way," he added. 
 
 Emergency talks 
 
 Image caption The killings in Houla continue to inspire anti-regime protests, like this one in Cairo 
 
 The killings in Houla triggered worldwide condemnation and led many Western powers to expel Syrian diplomats. 
 
 UN observers said some of the victims were killed by shell fire but most appeared to have been shot or stabbed at close range. The dead included 49 children and 34 women. 
 
 The UN Human Rights Council - the world's leading human rights body - is due to hold an emergency meeting on Syria on Friday at which it is expected to condemn the violence in Houla. 
 
 Syria has said special prayers for the victims will be held at mosques across the country on Friday. 
 
 A draft resolution, backed by the EU, condemns what it calls "the wanton killings of civilians... by pro-regime elements", and demands that Syria allow human rights investigators and aid agencies into the country immediately. 
 
 About 300 UN observers are currently in Syria as part of a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. 
 
 A key element of the plan is a ceasefire supposed to have gone into effect on 12 April. However, reports of violence and deaths have since continued daily. 
 
 The BBC's Paul Wood, who was recently in Syria, says the ceasefire exists in name only. 
 
 Media caption Hillary Clinton: "The Syrians are not going to listen to us. They will listen maybe to the Russians, so we have to keep pushing them" 
 
 On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticised Russia's policy toward its ally Syria, saying it was contributing towards a potential civil war. 
 
 Russia and China have both renewed their opposition to tougher UN Security Council action against Syria. 
 
 Mrs Clinton said the case for military intervention was growing stronger every day. 
 
 "[The Russians] are telling me they don't want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going to help to contribute to a civil war," she told an audience in Copenhagen. 
 
 On Friday, Ms Rice also criticised Moscow over reports from human rights groups and Western diplomats that a Russian ship had recently delivered weapons to Syria. 
 
 Activists say as many as 15,000 people have been killed since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, although the government disputes the figures.
– Bashar al-Assad was framed, he tells ya, framed. Syrian investigators today concluded that the infamous Houla massacre was the work of rebels trying to drum up global outrage against the regime. "Government forces did not enter the area," the general heading up the inquiry said, according to the BBC. The US ambassador to the UN called the findings a "blatant lie," saying there was "no factual evidence … that would substantiate that rendition of events." The UN Human Rights Council is holding an emergency meeting today, and is expected to release a statement strongly condemning the "wanton killings of civilians" by "pro-regime elements" in Houla. Syrian activists, meanwhile, say they've found evidence of another mass-killing, the third this week. They released a video showing the bodies of 13 men, who they say were factory workers who were forced off a bus and executed by pro-regime thugs.