BEIRUT - Activists say Syrian pro-regime gunmen shooting in celebration after televised comments by President Bashar Assad killed two people overnight.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two died early Monday in the central city of Hama in the hours after Assad's interview with state-run TV. Another activist group, called the Local Coordination Committees, confirmed the deaths.

Both groups cited witness accounts.

Activists say a government crackdown on a 5-month-old uprising in Syria has killed nearly 2,000 people.

On Sunday, Assad said he is not concerned with the security situation and announced some tentative steps toward reform. The opposition has dismissed his pledges as too little too late.