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UN Secretary-general Ban Ki- moon was shocked by reports of a massacre in the suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus, and called for an immediate investigation "in an independent and impartial fashion," a UN spokesman told reporters here on Monday.

"The secretary-general is certainly shocked by those reports and he strongly condemned this appalling and brutal crime," Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing. "This needs to be investigated immediately, in an independent and impartial fashion. "

However, the UN spokesman did not say who will be conducting the proposed investigation.

"Wherever there are atrocities, whoever is responsible needs to be held accountable. And it underscores again the lack of protection of civilians that there is in Syria," the spokesman added.

Western media reported on Sunday about mass burials in a town close to Damascus, said to be the results of a deadly assault as the bloody conflict between the Syrian military and the armed opposition continued.

According to a UN estimate, more than 18,000 people have been killed in the prolonged political crisis that broke out in Syria in March 2011.