UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. observers in Syria have confirmed that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential area of Houla, Syria, where at least 108 people, including many children, were killed, the U.N. chief said on Sunday in a letter to the Security Council.
The letter from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which was obtained by Reuters, said the observers "viewed the bodies of the dead and confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighborhood."
Ban reiterated his call on the Syrian government to stop using heavy weapons in civilian areas as Damascus has repeatedly promised to do. Earlier, Russia suggested that the rebels were responsible for the massacre.
But Ban also said U.N. monitors had observed signs of shotgun wounds on some of the bodies, which could indicate the kind of close-range fighting Russian deputy U.N. envoy Alexander Panel mentioned to reporters earlier when he said the rebels might be behind the onslaught.
(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Jackie Frank)