A senior UN official on Thursday sent a letter to the Syrian government on the modalities for cooperation regarding an inquiry into the alleged use of chemical weapons in a recent attack, a request by Damascus.

"On Thursday morning, the high representative for disarmament, Angela Kane, met with the permanent representative of Syria to the United Nations," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing here. "Ms. Kane handed over a letter from her to the deputy prime minister of Syria containing the modalities for cooperation reflecting the standard provisions that would be required to ensure the proper, safe and efficient conduct of the technical mission looking into alleged use of chemical weapons."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set up the technical mission earlier this week at the formal request from the Syrian government, and Damascus has accepted Ban's appointment of Ake Sellstrom, a Swedish scientist, to head the investigation into assertions that chemical weapons were used in Syria last week.

At least 25 people were killed and 130 others wounded Tuesday when armed men fired a rocket stuffed with chemical materials at the Khan al-Asal town in Aleppo, the Syrian state-media said, accusing the armed opposition fighters of being behind it. However, the rebels denied the accusations and turned the accusation finger against the government.

"The next step is to await the early affirmation from the Syrian government on those modalities and arrangements following which we can expeditiously dispatch the team," Nesirky said.

"The Syrian government confirmed to Ms. Kane their desire to cooperate," he said, referring to the meeting between Kane and Bashar Ja'afari, permanent representative of Syria to the United Nations. "They also confirmed to Ms. Kane that they are keen to proceed."

On Wednesday, Nesirky told reporters here that the technical mission going to Syria will include experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and World Health Organization (WHO) who are specialists in determining whether chemical weapons have been used.

Meanwhile, Nesirky clarified that "this is not a criminal investigation and is not to determine blame for any attack."

At present, no timetable was announced for the UN fact-finding panel, but the United Nations was working "quickly to get the mission working," Nesirky said. Endi

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