Syrian local security officials said on Wednesday that the victims include seven men and seven women executed in the village of Khatab in the volatile region.

"An armed terrorist group infiltrated the village of Khatab at dawn and committed a massacre among the civilian residents, killing 14 of them," Syrian state television quoted a senior security official as saying.

Some local residents say there were also children among the dead.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups such as the ISIL cult have been also behind many of the deadly bomb attacks targeting both civilians and government institutions across Syria over the past three years.

The latest massacre comes as terrorists have frequently accused residents of collaboration with the Syrian government forces.

Recent surveys show people in Syria have flatly rejected Takfiri ISIL cult, saying the militants do not represent their interests.

Since the outbreak of the turmoil in Syria in March 2011, several witness accounts and video clips have been released showing the grisly crimes perpetrated by the Takfiri terrorists against innocent civilians in the crisis-torn country.

According to some sources, more than 160,000 people have been so far killed and millions of others displaced due to the violence fueled by the militants in the Arab state.

Senior Syrian officials say the West and its regional allies, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are giving financial and military support to the militants.

HH/HH