The UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous (Source: presstv.com)

The UN has accused both the Syrian government and the opposition for violating the cease-fire brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan. Herve Ladsous, UN under secretary general for peacekeeping operations said yesterday that Syrian troops have kept heavy weapons in the cities, and that both the government and rebels have violated the supposed truce, that came into effect last month. According to the state-run SANA news agency, an armed group has killed Abdul-Hamid Taha, a candidate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections in the southern province of Daraa. The agency said that the so-called “Battalions of Mohammed” rebel fighters threatened to kill whoever stands as a candidate during Syria’s elections. An Islamist group calling itself al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed at least nine people, most of them security officials, in Damascus on Friday.