Attacks on Syrian TV station 'unacceptable': UN

UNITED NATIONS - UN spokesman Martin Nesirky on Thursday called the recent attacks on a Syrian Television station "regrettable and unacceptable."

"It's regrettable by any standards," Nesirky said at a daily news briefing here. "Any violence that is happening in Syria at the moment should be condemned, and is unacceptable, and of course, particularly because this was an assault on working journalists and that, is reprehensible."

Early Wednesday, a group of gunmen raided the headquarters of a state-owned Syrian television station. The gunmen killed seven employees, kidnapped several others, as well as demolished several neighboring buildings.

The Syrian government has described the incident as a "massacre" and blamed terrorists for the heinous acts.

Recently, two UN special rapporteurs released a joint statement where they urged the world governments and the international community "to act decisively on the protection of the right to life of journalists and media freedom," said the release by the special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Frank LaRue, and the special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.

"It is hard to imagine a world without journalists," said Heyns in the statement. "Without their work, humanity would be reduced to silence, and yet a large number are killed every year with almost total impunity."