UNITED NATIONS -- A vehicle of the UN Chemical Weapons Investigation Team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in Syria, the UN said on Monday, adding that the team members were safe.

"The first vehicle of the Chemical Weapons Investigation Team was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area," a UN spokesman said in an emailed note to the press here.

"As the car was no longer serviceable, the Team returned safely back to the government check-point," the spokesman said.

The attack took place on the first day the UN inspectors started their fact-finding activities at a site near the Syrian capital Damascus, where an alleged chemical weapons attack had occurred.