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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responded to growing criticism about his deadly five-month crackdown on dissidents by admitting “some mistakes” were made by his security forces in the “initial stages” of unrest.

Diplomats representing Brazil, India and South Africa -- a bloc in the United Nations Security Council reluctant to punish Assad -- said in an e-mailed statement that they met in Damascus with the Syrian leader, who told them “efforts were under way to prevent” the mistakes from recurring.