Ban Urges Impartial Probe into New Syria Massacre

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon is "shocked" by the reports of a new massacre in Syria and demands an independent inquiry, his spokesman said Monday.

Reports of hundreds of bodies found in Daraya near Damascus on Sunday after raids by government troops highlighted the lack of protection for civilians in the Syria conflict, said Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky.

"The secretary general is certainly shocked by those reports and he strongly condemns this appalling and brutal crime," Nesirky told reporters.

"Where hundreds of civilians have been killed in Daraya, this needs to be investigated immediately in an independent and impartial fashion," the spokesman added.

The U.N. Human Rights commissioner Navi Pillay is trying to get information on the massacre, Nesirky said.

More than 330 bodies have been found in Daraya after President Bashar Assad's troops went on house-to-house raids, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Wherever there are atrocities, whoever is responsible needs to be held accountable," Nesirky said. The Daraya case "underscores again the lack of protection for civilians that there is in Syria and the urgent need to prevent loss of life."

Syrian activists say about 25,000 people have been killed since an uprising against Assad started in March last year.