GENEVA â€"  A spokesman for the United Nations' envoy to Syria says international monitors are heading to a region where activists say at least 50 people were killed by government troops.

Ahmad Fawzi told The Associated Press in an email Saturday that the observers are traveling to Houla "as we speak."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist group say troops used heavy weapons Friday to pound the area of Houla in the province of Homs.

The Syrian National Council opposition group says more than 110 people were killed by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

Fighting in Syria has continued despite the deployment of some 250 U.N. observers who have fanned out across the country to monitor a cease-fire brokered by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan.