Blast near UN monitors as Damascus rocked by clashes

A rocket-propelled grenade exploded near a team of UN observers in a Damascus suburb on Sunday, the military said, as clashes between regime troops and armed rebels raged in and around the Syrian capital.

No one was hurt in the Douma blast, which came as UN truce mission head Major General Robert Mood and peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous were leading a team of observers around the north Damascus suburb, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

But elsewhere in the country at least 48 people were killed, including 34 in in an assault by Syrian regime forces on a village in central Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Syrian regime forces rained shells on the village of Souran in Hama, it said, describing the deaths as a "massacre" and urging UN truce observers to deploy immediately in the area.

The device in Douma, a rocket propelled-grenade according to a Syrian army officer in the area, exploded just a few dozen metres (yards) from the UN team.

The UN observers did not comment on the nature of the explosion, but urged all parties to stop fighting.

"I think this is clearly one of these situations where it is absolutely imperative that all parties exercise restraint and do not engage in any more fighting," said Ladsous.

He lamented failure by all parties in Syria to respect a UN-backed ceasefire which technically went into effect on April 12, days only before the first UN observers arrived to monitor the truce.

"There is not a ceasefire. But there has been a decrease in the level of violence... in large part thanks to the presence of the UN observers. It is clear at the same time that the ceasefire is not complete," Ladsous said.

Fierce clashes between regime troops and rebels determined to oust from power President Bashar al-Assad had been underway in Douma and other parts of the Syrian capital since the early hours of the day, activists said.

The Britain-based Observatory said regime forces shelled the outskirts of Douma overnight with rockets crashing into the suburb during the day. A civilian was also shot dead in Douma by a sniper.

Sunday's blast follows several other close calls for the UN monitors since they deployed in Syria. Mood said there were around 260 observers on the ground.

On May 16, a convoy of UN observers was struck by a homemade bomb in the central city of Homs, damaging three vehicles but causing no casualties.

A similar convoy was hit by a roadside bomb on May 9 in the southern province of Daraa, wounding six Syrian soldiers escorting them.

In Hama province "thirty-four people were killed under shelling and gunfire in Souran village while it was being raided," the Observatory said, adding that children were among the dead.

Elsewhere across the country on 14 other people were killed in violence on Sunday, it added.

The latest violence came after the G8 nations said a "political transition" was needed to end the crisis in Syria, where monitors say more than 12,000 people have died in a government crackdown since March 2011.

The AFP correspondent said the streets of Douma were deserted and most of its shops were closed, with pro- and anti-regime graffiti scrawled on the walls.

"When the observers leave, the armed men will come back to cause trouble," one soldier told reporters at the scene, in a reference to the armed rebels.

Speaking to reporters after the blast, UN peacekeeping chief Ladsous described what he saw of Douma as "a city paralysed."

"People who cannot go out, who cannot exercise their normal lives, this is simply hard to accept," he said.

Fighting also erupted during the night in the Kafr Sousa district of south Damascus, according to the Observatory, adding there were clashes in other parts of the capital which rang out with gunfire during the night.

"Gunfire was heard in Abbasiyyin Square, and Baghdad and Thawra streets," said the Britain-based watchdog, referring to high-security areas of the city.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, said the army dispatched "huge reinforcements" to Kafr Sousa in the wake of the fighting.

Meanwhile gunmen assassinated Adib Habb al-Rumman, an official of the ruling Baath party in the city of Jisr al-Shughur, in northwestern Idlib province, the Observatory said, in the latest targeted killing of regime figures.

"There is definitely an increase in assassinations targeting people associated with the regime, be they officials or pro-regime businessmen," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Also on Sunday, demonstrations took place in several parts of Syria, the Observatory said, include rallies in southern Daraa province to demand the release of activist and citizen journalist Mohammed al-Hariri.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Hariri was sentenced to death for "high treason." He was arrested on April 16, RSF said, after he gave an interview to Al-Jazeera from his home in Daraa province.

The G8 -- which includes long-time Syrian-ally Russia -- called on Saturday for a "Syrian-led, inclusive political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system."

"The Syrian government and all parties must immediately and fully adhere to commitments to implement the six-point plan of UN and Arab League Joint Special Envoy... Kofi Annan," a joint statement said at the end of a summit in Camp David, outside Washington.

Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said meanwhile that Annan was expected in Damascus towards the end of the month, adding in a tweet that Syria "welcomes" the visit.

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