3,400 Palestinians killed in Syria in last 5 years: NGO

More than 3,400 Palestinians have been killed in Syria since the conflict in that country erupted almost six years ago, according to documents compiled by the Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, an NGO.

In a report issued Sunday, the NGO said it had documented the deaths of 3,411 Palestinians -- including 455 women -- during the ongoing conflict in Syria.

According to the report, most of the deaths were the result of artillery fire, armed clashes between belligerents, blockades imposed on certain parts of the country, and the sinking of boats teeming with fleeing refugees.

The report notes that, throughout the course of the years-long conflict, as many as 1,277 Palestinians have been killed in Syria's Al-Yarmouk refugee camp -- located south of capital Damascus -- alone.

The NGO goes on to urge international organizations to provide Palestinian refugees in Syria with adequate care and protection.

According to UN estimates, some 450,000 Palestinian refugees remain in Syria, the vast majority of whom require medical assistance.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to UN figures.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, a Beirut-based NGO has put the death toll from the almost six-year conflict at more than 470,000.