BEIRUT (Reuters) - The death toll has risen to at least 90 from Syrian shelling on the town of Houla on Friday, an opposition group said on Saturday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said residents continued to flee the town, in central Homs province, in fear that artillery fire would resume.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the accounts from Syria, which has restricted access for journalists during a 14-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Opposition activists said on Friday that Syrian forces opened fire with artillery after skirmishing with insurgents in Houla, a cluster of villages north of the city of Homs.

Various opposition activists put the death toll at over 50 by late on Friday. Footage posted to web sites showed bloodied and mangled corpses described as the victims of the shelling.

(Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)