LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Mohammad found the burned corpses of his mother, father, two sisters and one brother on the floor of his charred home.

"I lost all my family members, with the exception of my grandfather. I found him in his home unconscious. His house was partially destroyed from the shelling," Mohammad told Al Jazeera correspondents.

"My grandfather was beaten on his head with a heavy object. They did not know he was still alive. If they knew they would have killed him too."

At least 70 people were killed in al-Qubayr. It was the second mass killing to emerge from Syria in less than two weeks. The latest atrocity followed the apparent murder of around 100 civilians in the town of Houla in Homs province.

Government-backed militia, known as shabiha, is being blamed for killing the residents of al-Qubayr and burning their houses afterwards. The Syrian government maintains that "terrorists" are responsible.

Heavy shelling reportedly targeted the villages of Jerjees and Maarzaf, where the Syrian army is trying to quell opposition fighters. Tiny Al-Qubayr, with a population of around 150 people, was close enough to take some of the artillery fire as well.

"After the shelling, the army withdrew and shabiha entered the town and slaughtered people," Mohammad said.

Al-Qubayr is a town inhabited mainly by Sunni Muslims. Activist Mousab al-Hamadee says he believed the acts of the shabiha were motivated by sectarian feelings. "The shabiha took advantage of the fact that this town is remote and isolated to attack it," he said.

The Syrian State News Agency SANA said only that nine people were killed in "cold blood." Hamadee himself put the death toll at 78.

United Nation observers sent to al-Qubayr were stopped and turned away at Syrian army checkpoints this week. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said some of the observers had come under small arms fire. The U.N. commander on the ground said others had been warned that their safety was at risk if they came to the area.

Mohammad is at a loss as to why his town was targeted. "There are no armed rebels in Qubayr. Residents of this town did not participate in anti-government protests," he says. "We are farmers. My dad grew wheat. We had nothing to do with politics."

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.