UN leader Ban Ki-moon and UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday condemned a massacre of more than 90 civilians in Syria as an "appalling and brutal" breach of international law, a spokesman said.

Ban and Annan "condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children" at Houla, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

The UN secretary general and the special envoy demanded that whoever is to blame "must be held accountable."

This came as the UN mission chief in Syria has condemned the "brutal tragedy" in Houla, where he said 92 bodies had been counted.

General Robert Mood, head of the UN monitoring mission, said: "This morning UN military and civilian observers went to Houla and counted more than 32 children and over 60 adults killed."

[Source: AFP]