UN monitors enter massacre site in Syria

UN monitors entered the Syrian hamlet of Mazraat al-Qubeir yesterday, where opposition activists say at least 78 people were killed, a UN source said.

The UN observers had been trying to reach the tiny farming village of about 150 people since Thursday but had been shot at and turned back by both security forces and residents.

Some 300 UN observers are in Syria to monitor a ceasefire between president Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels that was declared by envoy Kofi Annan on Apr 12 but never implemented.