FILE - U.N. vehicles, transporting a team of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, leave their hotel in Damascus October 22, 2013.
Chemical Weapons Inspectors 'Safe' After Attack in Syria
A team of inspectors working to investigate alleged chlorine gas attacks in Syria has been attacked, but the organization overseeing their mission says they are "safe and well."
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Tuesday a convoy of its inspectors and United Nations staff was attacked as they traveled to the site of one of the alleged attacks, but were safely returning to their base. It did not give details about where the attack took place or who was responsible.
Hama province, Syria
Syria's foreign ministry said six members of the fact-finding team and five Syrian drivers were kidnapped by "terrorists" after an attack in Hama province. The Syrian government uses the term terrorist to refer to rebel fighters.
The OPCW statement called on all parties in Syria to give the inspectors safe access to sites as they continue to carry out their work.
A joint OPCW-U.N. mission has been working since last year to oversee the removal Syria's declared stockpile of chemical weapons. In late April, inspectors began a new fact-finding mission to probe the alleged chlorine attacks.
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