Victim of gas attack
Victim of gas attackReuters

A car carrying United Nations inspectors was shot at "multiple times" by snipers Monday as it headed to the scene of a suspected chemical weapons attack in which the Syrian regime is believed to have targeted its own people.

The inspectors were forced to abandon their investigation after they were shot at near Damascus. The experts were targeted as they traveled in a convoy. One car was damaged but no injuries was reported.

"The first vehicle of the chemical weapons investigation team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers," said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky. The spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the vehicle had been forced to return to a government checkpoint.

The six-car convoy containing the UN chemical weapons investigation team earlier left a hotel and headed toward the scene of the alleged poison gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus, in an area known as Eastern Ghouta.

Dressed in blue UN body armor, the team of experts were accompanied by local security forces and an ambulance. 

Hundreds of civilians were killed on Wednesday in the suspected poison gas attack.