'Chemical attacks' reported in Damascus

Chemical weapons attacks have killed dozens of people east of Damascus, Syrian opposition activists claimed on Wednesday.

According to the reports, rockets with toxic agents were launched at the suburbs of the Ghouta region in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Footage uploaded to YouTube by activists shows many people being treated in makeshift hospitals.

A team of UN inspectors arrived in Syria on Sunday to probe earlier allegations of chemical weapons use.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said that about 35,000 refugees, believed to be mainly Syrian Kurds, have entered Iraq since last Thursday.

At least 5,100 people crossed the border on Tuesday, fleeing the civil war in Syria.

The influx began last Thursday when the Kurdistan regional government authorities in northern Iraq opened access across the newly-built Peshkhabour pontoon bridge, UNHCR said. The bridge has now been reserved for commercial traffic and refugees have been directed to use the Sahela crossing to the south, it added.

"This new exodus from Syria is among the largest we have seen in the conflict," UNHCR spokesman Dan McNorton told reporters.