DAMASCUS, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Syrian security forces clashed with residents in the coastal city of Qardaha on Wednesday during an attempt to set up a military checkpoint, injuring three people and prompting arrests, a monitoring group and officials said.

The confrontation began after security personnel moved to establish the checkpoint in Latakia province's Qardaha, the hometown of former President Bashar al-Assad, as part of what officials called routine efforts to "stabilize the region."

Mustafa Kneifati, head of Latakia's General Security Administration, said the measure aimed to "protect residents."

However, groups opposed to the checkpoint attempted to dismantle it and storm a nearby police station, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based monitoring group said tensions escalated further when security forces tried to seize a former officer's house near a bakery to convert it into an outpost.

Resistance to the seizure led to gunfire that injured three people, the Observatory reported.

Dozens of residents later gathered outside a security headquarters demanding the release of 10 youths detained earlier, prompting security forces to fire warning shots and deploy reinforcements, it added. Enditem

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