(CNN) Damascus – The announcement comes as two opposition groups claimed that over 100 people were killed on Monday, which would be the single deadliest known day of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that dozens of Syrian army defectors were gunned down Monday as they tried to flee their posts in Idlib.

The London-based opposition group put the number of dead between 60 and 70.

Another opposition group, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, said 48 civilians were killed in eight separate incidents the same day.

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