UN convoy targeted in Syrian province of Idlib

May 15, 2012

The United Nations has confirmed that its convoy in Syria was bombed this afternoon while a human rights group reported a Syrian military attack on civilians at a nearby funeral in the Syrian town of in  today.

Just prior to the bombing of the UN convoy at around 1400 Eastern European Time (UTC+2), the Syrian military is said to have attacked a funeral procession and reportedly 20 people were killed in that incident. The attack on civilians by the Syrian military was reported by the.

According to Martin Nesirky, who is the UN spokesperson for Secretary-General, an IED bomb struck its four-vehicle convoy. UN personnel had to be left behind after the blast but no UN staff were injured. Later, the UN sent a patrol to pick up personnel left behind. Three UN marked vehicles were damaged.

A video uploaded to the video sharing website YouTube reportedly shows the UN convoy being targeted and bombed.

About a dozen civilians can be seen surrounding the lead car of the convoy talking to UN observers. Some civilians can be heard screaming. Several seconds later, a bomb explodes near what appears to be the lead car of the convoy severely damaging the front end of the vehicle and injuring several civilians. The lead car, still operating, begins to leave the area. The two other vehicles follow. According to reports, several civilians were injured and or killed in the attack. The UN has reportedly stated that none of their observers were injured.

"We went to observe and after a while shooting occurred"; "We are safe with the and we are waiting for a [U.N.] group to pick us up," said UN observers to. According to reports, the UN is seeking "to remove the observers from the area."

It is not yet known who was responsible for the attack on the UN convoy.