AMMAN, Jordan (Reuters) -- Troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Asssad killed 27 youth when they raided villages in a northern provice, an opposition activists' group said Wednesday.

The young men, all civilians, were mostly shot in the head or chest in their homes or in streets in the villages of Idita, Iblin and Balshon in Idlib province near the border with Turkey, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said.

Several YouTube videos taken by local activists in Idlib, which could not be independently confirmed, showed bodies of young men with bullet wounds lying in streets and in houses.