Over 100,000 souls lost in wake of Syrian civil war - UN Chief

More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday, dpa reported.

"The situation in Syria is appalling," Ban said, after meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York, and called for efforts to find a political solution to end the 28-month conflict.

"The conflict has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions of people and we have to bring it to an end," Ban said. The latest recent UN estimate of the death toll was 93,000.

Both Ban and Kerry, who spoke to reporters, called for convening a second conference in Geneva as soon as possible to implement a political plan to end the conflict.

The United States and Russia have jointly proposed the parley, but no specific date has been set for holding it.

In Syria, a car bomb exploded in the area of Jaramana south east of Damascus, killing at least 10 people and wounding 66, state-run news agency SANA reported.

It said that "terrorists" had detonated the car bomb in Jaramana, home to many Christians and Druze who are mostly loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile, two UN envoys left Syria after talks with government officials on terms for allowing inspectors to probe alleged chemical weapons attacks in the country, said UN media and communications analyst Khaled al-Masri.

Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom and disarmament official Angela Kane arrived in Damascus Wednesday to try to complete what they called modalities before a UN team can begin a probe into alleged use of chemical weapons.

The had held talks with Syrian officials, including Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.

The experts asked in their talks that their team get access to some 13 alleged locations where Sarin or chemical weapons were used.

The Syrian government insists on only allowing the experts access to the town of Khan al-Assal near the northern city of Aleppo.

On June 11, the UN accepted an invitation from al-Assad's regime to investigate a purported use of chemical weapons by opposition forces in Khan al-Assal.

Khan al-Assal was the scene of deadly fighting in March between government troops and opposition rebels. Each side accused the other of launching a deadly chemical attack in the town.


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