At least eighty people are dead, including women and children, after Syrian government troops moved in and recaptured a town near Damascus.

Syrian troops battled the rebels for five days before the state news agency declared they had "inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists" in the town of Jdaidet al-Fadl.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights fears the death toll could be worse than 80 lives lost, but getting an accurate count is impossible because the government now controls the area.  Most of the deaths were rebel fighters, and the observatory posted gruesome footage of the fatalities (Warning:  The images, here, here and here, will be disturbing to more sensitive viewers.  War is horrible).

“We call on the International Committee of the Red Cross to send a delegation to Jdaidet al-Fadl in order to investigate,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Jdaidet al-Fadl is located in an area southwest of Damascus that is home to several communities, including Sunnis, Druze and Christians.  Water, electricity, and Internet service to the town is knocked out.

Sunday’s violence came a day after at least 121 people were killed across Syria, the Observatory reported.  At least 70,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.