BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhuanet) -- UN Secretary General has named Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom to head the UN investigation into allegations that chemical weapons were used in .

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said, "The Secretary-General has appointed Professor Ake Sellstrom of Sweden to head the UN fact-finding mission which will investigate allegations of the reported use of chemical weapons in Syria."

The UN said last week it would investigate Syrian allegations that rebels used chemical arms in an attack near the northern city of Aleppo. But and Britain wrote to the secretary general on Thursday to draw his attention to an alleged attack near Damascus, as well as one in Homs in late December.

The rebels blame Syria’s government for those incidents as well as the Aleppo attack. Ban made it clear on Thursday that the investigation would initially focus on the Aleppo incident. He said the investigation would be technical and not a criminal investigation. It will only examine whether chemical weapons were used and not who may have used them.

Before Sellstrom was named, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the investigation team must be fully representative. The Ministry’s remarks came after n Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Monday that the group of investigators "must, without fail, include representatives of the five permanent UN Security Council members, including Russian and Chinese chemical specialists."

(Source: CNTV.cn)