Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - A large explosion hit cars accompanying United Nations ceasefire monitors in the southern Syrian province of Deraa on Wednesday, injuring eight Syrian guards, a pro-government news channel said.

The U.N. observers’ chief Robert Mood was in the convoy during the explosion, but neither he nor any of the other observers were hurt. But Addounia television said the explosion happened in front of them and damaged cars, including one belonging to Syrian state media.

“It is imperative that violence in all its forms must stop,” Mood was quoted by observer spokesman Neeraj Singh as saying.

“We remain focused on our task,” Singh told AFP, adding that the total number of observers in Syria now stands at 70.

The Syrian National Council opposition bloc quickly accused the Syrian regime of being behind a blast.

“We believe the regime is using these tactics to try to push the observers out amid popular demands to increase their numbers,” SNC executive committee member Samir Nashar told AFP.

Troops pounded a rebel hideout near Damascus as renewed violence across Syria killed at least three people on Wednesday, among them two soldiers and one civilian, a rights watchdog said as U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan plans to return to Damascus in coming weeks.

Residents of Duma, about 13 kilometers (eight miles) from the capital, reported heavy shelling since dawn and bursts of gunfire in the town, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, security forces carried out raids and arrests in the villages of al-Safira and al-Hisan.

Syrian troops killed at least 23 people in fighting across Syria on Tuesday, activists told Al Arabiya, in a 14-month-old revolt that the Red Cross and Arab League warned was deteriorating into a civil war.


* Al Arabiya