Syrian activist group says 140,000 killed so far

Vehicles smolder after an explosion outside a mosque in Yadouda, Syria on Friday, Feb. 14, 2014. AP/Shaam News Network

A Syrian activist group says the death toll in that country’s conflict has reached 140,000.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday the dead from three years of political violence include civilians, rebels, members of the military, pro-government militiamen and foreign fighters.

The group bases its count on a network of informants on the ground.

The group says more than 3,400 people have been killed so far this month, an escalation in the violence even as the government and opposition hold peace talks in Geneva.

The UN’s human rights office said in January it has stopped updating the death toll from Syria’s civil war, confirming that it can no longer verify the sources of information that led to its last count of at least 100,000 in late July.