The UN Security Council has issued a statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms" the massacre of civilians in the Syrian village of Houla, during which more than 100 people are reported to have been killed.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest possible terms the killings, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more in the village of Houla, near Homs, in attacks that involved a series of government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighbourhood," the statement reads "The members of the Security Council also condemned the killing of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse."