Syria says 11 people, including 6 from UN fact-finding mission, abducted by armed groups

DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria’s Foreign Ministry says 11 people, including six members of a U.N. fact-finding mission, have been abducted by armed groups in central Syria.

The ministry says the abductions occurred in the countryside around Hama in central Syria on Tuesday.

A ministry statement blamed rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, accusing them of committing “terrorist crimes” against the U.N. staff and the U.N. Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The organization, which monitors the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and oversees the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons, sent a team to Syria this month to investigate claims that chlorine has been used in the region of Hama.