‘1,300 killed in chemical attack’ near Syrian capital Damascus

Added by Indo American News on August 21, 2013.
Saved under World News
A handout image released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows bodies of children wrapped in shrouds laid out on the ground as Syrian rebels claim they were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013. (Via AFP)

A handout image released by the Syrian opposition’s Shaam News Network shows bodies of children wrapped in shrouds laid out on the ground as Syrian rebels claim they were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013. (Via AFP)

BEIRUT/AMMAN: Syria’s opposition accused President Bashar al-Assad’s forces of gassing many hundreds of people — by one report as many as 1,300 — on Wednesday in what would, if confirmed, be the world’s worst chemical weapons attack in decades.Western and regional countries called for UNchemical weapons investigators — who arrived in Damascus just three days ago — to be urgently dispatched to the scene of one of the deadliest incidents of the two-year-old civil war.

Russia, too, urged a fair and professional investigation but Assad’s biggest foreign ally also heaped scepticism on his enemies’ claims. A foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow said the release of gas after UN inspectors arrived suggested strongly that it was a “provocation” to discredit Syria’s government.

Images, including some by freelance photographers supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies including of small children, laid on the floor of a clinic with no visible signs of injuries….

 

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