UN observers returning after blast in south Syria Norwegian Major-General Robert Mood, chief of the United Nations Supervision Mission in ...

UN observers returning after blast in south Syria

Norwegian Major-General Robert Mood, chief of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria, reacts to the press at a hotel in Damascus, May 16, 2012. (Xinhua/Hazim)

DAMASCUS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Head of UN observers in Syria Maj. Gen. Robert Mood said Wednesday that the observers whose convoy were struck by a blast in Khan Sheikhoun near the southern Hama province a day earlier have departed from the area and are on their way back.

A convoy of four vehicles with UN observers in them was struck Tuesday afternoon by a blast caused by an improvised explosive device in Khan Sheikhoun area near Hama.

Three of the vehicles were damaged, but no UN personnel was injured, said Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman of the UN-Arab League joint envoy Kofi Annan, adding that the mission has sent a patrol team to the area to bring back the observers.

Mood said earlier Wednesday that the observers are safe and have stayed in Hama overnight.

He expressed gratitude to the Syrian government for facilitating the return of the observers, and renewed calls for halting violence in the country in order to make his mission a success.