Syrian government troops using tanks and helicopters on Thursday massacred more than 100 people in the central province of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“Government troops bombarded the village using tanks and helicopters,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said by telephone, putting the death toll in the village of Treimsa at more than 100.

Khaleej TimesHe said that the bodies of 30 villagers had already been identified following the sustained attack, which brought the day’s total death toll in the conflict-torn nation to over 150.

The state-run SANA news agency said there had been clashes between the army and an armed “terrorist” group in the village but made no mention of a massacre and gave no overall death toll.

“There were heavy losses among the ranks of the terrorists,” said the report, adding that three government soldiers were killed.

The head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Abdel Basset Sayda, voiced outrage about the latest killings and called for a tough UN resolution that allows for military intervention against the Damascus regime.

“This was a massacre perpetrated by the Syrian regime,” he said, speaking to Al Jazeera TV.

“What we want is a clear and straightforward resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter which puts all the options on the table, including the use of force. This Syrian regime only understands the language of force.”

Earlier on Thursday the Britain-based Observatory had reported on the Hama violence that that “regime forces pounded Treimsa” and that eight civilians and one Free Syrian Army rebel were among those killed.

The Syrian Revolutionary General Commission had reported that one of the Treimsa victims was a doctor shot dead while trying to help the wounded.

“The village school was totally destroyed,” a Hama-based activist calling himself Abu Ghazi said via Skype.

“Every month, there is a major attack somewhere in Hama province, while arbitrary detentions happen every day,” the activist said.

He said that with Idlib in the northwest, Homs in the centre and much of the countryside of Aleppo in the north “out of control, the regime is trying to keep Hama on its side.”

“Hama is in the centre of Syria, and is a link in a chain of provinces where anti-regime feeling is strong; the regime will do anything to keep it controlled.”

The Observatory said more than 17,000 people have been killed since the uprising erupted in mid-March last year.

It is not possible to independently verify death tolls. The United Nations stopped compiling such figures at the end of 2011.