UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and special envoy Kofi Annan condemned the killing of more than 90 civilians, including 32 young children, in the central Syrian town of Houla Saturday, dpa reported.
"This appalling and brutal crime involving indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force is a flagrant violation of international law and of the commitments of the Syrian government to cease the use of heavy weapons in population centres and violence in all its forms," they said in a statement released in New York and Geneva.
"Those responsible for perpetrating this crime must be held to account," they said, calling on President Bashar al-Assad to end the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and end all violence in the country.