DAMASCUS (AFP) - An 11-strong team from the international chemical weapons watchdog has been kidnapped on a fact-finding mission in the central Syrian province of Hama, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

"Eleven people - five Syrian drivers and six other members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons team who were on board two vehicles - have been kidnapped," the ministry said.

The team have been investigating allegations that Syrian government forces unleashed the industrial chemical chlorine on a rebel-held village in Hama province last month. 14