Security Council by

insurgency begins to overshadow what had been mostly peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

the U.N. human rights chief said, as an

Navi Pillay is

The latest figure repo

civilians, army defectors and those

she said.

but not soldiers and other security personnel killed by opposition force

The toll includes

had taken little action on Syria. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he too was troubled by Pillay's report but said outside intervention could lead to civil war and a far higher death toll.

Syria has barred most independent journalists, making it hard to assess conflicting accounts of events there. In New York, Western envoys on the Security Council said Pillay's briefing was the most horrifying they had heard in recent times and termed it scandalous that the council, paralyzed by opposition from Russia and

including in villages around Homs and in the northwestern province of Idlib on the border with

Despite the spiraling violence, the Syrian authorities held local elections on Monday as part of what they say is a reform process, but Assad's critics described the voting as irrelevant. Monday was also the second day of the opposition's "Strike for Dignity," but its success was hard to gauge in some cities where violence has kept many residents in their homes. Though the strike has found support in protest strongholds around the country, it has not taken hold in central parts of the capital Damascus or the business hub of Aleppo. TWENTY MORE DEAD In Homs, activists said at least four civilians were killed by tank fire on Sunni Muslim districts, where the strike held and voting was largely boycotted. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist organization, said