UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council on Sunday blamed the Syrian government for attacking residential areas of the town of Houla with artillery and tank shelling and also condemned the close-range killings of civilians there — but avoided saying who was responsible for the massacre of more than 100 men, women and children.

The council said in a news statement after an emergency meeting that the “outrageous use of force” against civilians violated international law and Syrian government commitments under previous U.N. resolutions to stop all violence, including the use of heavy weapons in populated areas. It said “those responsible for acts of violence must be held accountable.”

Additional Photos

A photo taken by a citizen journalist on Saturday purports to show shrouded dead bodies following an assault on Houla, Syria. The Associated Press

It demanded that the Syrian government immediately halt the use of heavy weapons and pull its troops out of cities and towns, and it asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. observer mission in Syria to continue investigating the attacks in Houla. Ban, in a letter to the council, called for “a transparent, independent and impartial international investigation.”

Britain and France had proposed issuing a news statement condemning the attack on civilians and pointing the finger at the Syrian government for Friday’s massacre. But Russia called for an emergency council meeting saying it first wanted a briefing by Gen. Robert Mood, the head of the unarmed U.N. observer mission.

After Mood’s briefing, Germany’s U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig said “there is a clear footprint of the government in the massacre.”

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said no circumstances justify the use of heavy weapons, which Mood confirmed. “The fact is that this is an atrocity and it was perpetrated by the Syrian government,” he said.

But Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Alexander Pankin said “it still remains unclear what happened and what triggered what.”

“It’s difficult to imagine that the Syrian government would not only shell and mortar but also use point-blank execution against 40-plus women and 30- plus children under age 10,” he said. “This is definitely the atrocity that has to be investigated.”

Russia, which considers Syria its closest Mideast ally, has used its Security Council veto power to block resolutions raising the possibility of U.N. action against President Bashar Assad. The assault on Houla was one of the bloodiest single events in Syria’s 15-month uprising against Assad’s regime.

While a Security Council news statement is weaker than a presidential statement, which becomes part of the council record, or a legally binding U.N. resolution, it must be approved by all 15 members and therefore reflects strong council backing.

“We got a very strong statement and strong support from the Security Council,” U.S. deputy ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told AP. “I think it’s very clear that everyone is absolutely appalled at the atrocities that took place and the council understands we need to be unified in this regard.”

The Syrian government Sunday denied responsibility for the Houla massacre, blaming the killings on “hundreds of heavily armed gunmen” who also attacked soldiers in the area.

Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari called the massacre “an appalling, horrific, unjustified and unjustifiable crime” and blamed “armed terrorist groups.” He said “it was not a coincidence” that the massacre took place just before international envoy Kofi Annan is scheduled to arrive in Syria.

He said those who committed the massacre were “seeking escalation and mobilization by the Security Council against the Syrian government.”

Russia’s Pankin said there is definitely “a third force” operating in Syria — terrorists or external forces who want intervention and an opposition victory.

Mood told the closed-door council session that U.N. observers, after revisiting the scene in the Houla area, had raised the death toll to 108 people, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said outside the council chamber. Those killed include 49 children and 34 women, Ahmad Fawzi, a spokesman for Annan, told the AP. Mood said Saturday that observers confirmed from an examination of ordnance found at the scene that artillery and tank shells were fired.

The council statement “condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more in the village of Houla, near Homs, in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighborhood.”

It also “condemned the killing of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse,” but avoided assessing responsibility for the killings.

In his letter to the Security Council, Ban said villages in the Houla area have been outside government control but surrounded by a heavy Syrian military presence.

Annan reportedly will visit Damascus today. The Security Council will meet Tuesday on the Middle East and hear a briefing from Annan on Wednesday.

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