UN team fired on at suspected Syria chemical attack site

April 19, 2018 at 5:05 a.m. | Updated April 19, 2018 at 12:47 p.m.

by Associated Press

FILE - In this Saturday, April 14, 2018 file photo, UN vehicles carrying the team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), arrive at hotel hours after the U.S., France and Britian launched an attack on Syrian facilities for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria. The OPCW has been thrust once again into the international limelight by a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain and allegations of a chemical bombardment on the Syrian city of Douma. It is now attempting to investigate, but its experts have not yet been able to visit the scene. (AP Photo/Bassem Mroue, File)
FILE - In this Saturday, April 14, 2018 file photo, UN vehicles carrying the team of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), arrive at hotel hours after the U.S., France and Britian launched an attack on Syrian facilities for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Damascus, Syria. The OPCW has been thrust once again into the international limelight by a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain and allegations of a chemical bombardment on the Syrian city of Douma. It is now attempting to investigate, but its experts have not yet been able to visit the scene. (AP Photo/Bassem Mroue, File)

BEIRUT (AP) - Assailants opened fire at a U.N. security team visiting the site of a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, an official said Wednesday, forcing it to retreat to its base and further delaying a fact-finding mission by outside experts to examine the claims.

Gunmen shot at the U.N. team in Douma on Tuesday and detonated an explosive, leading it to return to Damascus, said the head of the international chemical weapons watchdog, Ahmet Uzumcu. He did not identify the assailants.

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have been waiting since Saturday to visit Douma, the site of the alleged April 7 attack. They were initially blocked by the Syrian government and its ally, Russia, on Monday. Then on Tuesday, the advance security team from the U.N. came under fire, compounding the delays. The OPCW inspectors have not yet been able to visit the site, and Uzumcu did not say when they would deploy.

The United Nations said more security measures were needed before the inspectors could go in. "There is still a lot of volatility in the area," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding the U.N. security team needed to make at least another visit before the fact-finding mission could go ahead.

The town is under the protection of Russia's military police. The Russian military said a Syrian security employee was slightly wounded in the crossfire Tuesday, but no Russian servicemen were at the site of the attack.

Journalists visiting Douma on a government-organized tour Monday did not report any security threats. The Associated Press met with residents who said they were overwhelmed by chlorine fumes on the night of the alleged attack, and lost their loved ones.

With 11 days now having passed, concerns are growing that evidence could fall prey to tampering or be otherwise compromised.

In response, the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense, whose first responders were operating in Douma on the night of the alleged attack, gave the chemical weapons watchdog the locations of victims' graves so it could salvage evidence, the group's chief, Raed Saleh, told the AP.

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