UN chemical weapons inspectors arrive in Damascus

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (right) shakes hands with Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom -- the head of the UN chemical weapons investigation team -- before their meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, on April 29, 2013. UN inspectors Sellstrom and Angela Kane -- tasked with examining claims that chemical weapons were used in Syria's civil war -- have arrived in Damascus. (AFP/File)

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Two senior UN inspectors tasked with examining claims that chemical weapons have been deployed in Syria's civil war arrived in Damascus on Wednesday, an AFP photographer reported.

Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom and Angela Kane, the UN high representative for disarmament, arrived at a hotel in the Syrian capital. They were scheduled to hold talks with regime officials regarding access to areas of the country in order to pursue their investigations.

Syria's regime and rebels fighting to topple it have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the drawn-out conflict which has seen more than 100,000 people killed.