A UN security team was fired at Tuesday (April 17th) while on a reconnaissance mission in the Syrian town of Douma ahead of the deployment of experts investigating an alleged chemical attack, a UN official said Wednesday.

"Shots were fired yesterday at a UN security team doing a reconnaissance in Douma," the official told AFP. "They were not injured and returned to Damascus."

The experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) watchdog were awaiting the green light from the security team before beginning their investigation in Douma of the alleged April 7th gas attack.

The inspectors arrived in Damascus on Saturday, when Britain, France and the US launched strikes against targets linked to Syria's chemical weapons programme.

The UN official said the security team would remain in Damascus with the OPCW experts for the time being.

Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari told the Security Council on Tuesday that the OPCW experts would begin their investigation once they received the all-clear from the UN security team.

"If this UN security team decides that the situation is sound in Douma then the fact-finding mission will begin its work in Douma tomorrow," Jaafari said.