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UN inspectors raise their thumbs as they are watching the departure of the UN inspectors' team at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus,Syria on Aug. 28 2013. The U.N. team decided to put off inspections Tuesday "in order to improve preparedness and safety for the team" the world body said in a statement. (Xinhua/ Bassem Tellawi)
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DAMASCUS, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- UN investigation team resumed Wednesday their probing mission in the countryside of Damascus, a day after suspending their activities due to security reasons, a UN spokesman Khaled al-Masri told Xinhua.
Al-Masri said the team resumed their probe at an unspecified location in the countryside of Damascus.
A day earlier, the team postponed its second day of on-site probe due to safety concerns, following an attack on Monday that damaged one of their vehicles.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all sides in the conflict to "give safe passage and access" to the team. He said " It is in the interest of all sides to bring factual evidence and clarity to a situation which has brought great suffering to the people of Syria."
The team arrived in Syria earlier this week to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons in the unrest-torn country. After their arrival, the Syrian opposition on Aug. 21 claimed that 1,300 people were killed in a chemical weapon attack carried out by the government forces on militant strongholds in the suburbs of Damascus. The Syrian government strongly denied the accusation.
The latest incident unleashed a barrage of threats of taking military actions by the United States and its allies.
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