Syrian govt denies US burning bodies claim

The Syrian government has denied US accusations that a crematorium had been built at one of its prisons that could be used to dispose of detainees' remains, saying the claim was devoid of truth.

A foreign ministry statement published by state news agency SANA said the US administration had come out with "a new Hollywood story detached from reality" by alleging the crematorium had been built at Sednaya military prison near Damascus.

Stuart Jones, acting US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, said on Monday that US officials believe the crematorium could be used to dispose of bodies at a prison where they believe Assad's government authorised the mass hangings of thousands of inmates during Syria's six-year-old civil war.

Western monitors and watchdog groups say they have accumulated evidence of mass killings in Syrian government prisons. However, there hasn't been any substantiated allegation so far of the use of a crematorium

On Monday, the State Department said it believes about 50 detainees are being hanged each day at the Saydnaya military prison, which is located about a 45 minutes' drive north of the capital, Damascus.