U.N. says Syrian death toll tops 2,900

DAMASCUS, Syria, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The death toll from the months-long fighting between Syrian government forces and pro-democracy protesters has topped 2,900, the U.N. human rights office said.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the death count surpassed that total "according to the list of individual names we have been compiling," the United Nations said Thursday in a release.

Previous estimates placed the toll at about 2,700.

The Human Rights Council ordered an inquiry commission to look into the violence after an earlier OHCHR mission outlined government abuses ranging from murders, enforced disappearances, the deprivation of liberty and torture against those protesting the regime of President Bashar Assad.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for an end to the violence and suffering in Syria, saying the international community has a moral obligation to try to prevent further bloodshed.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Security Council. after Russia and China exercised their vetoes, turned down a draft resolution condemning Syrian authorities for their crackdown. Representatives of the two countries said the draft as presented would have aggravated tensions instead of leading to a resolution to the crisis.

Assad's government has said it wants to initiate reforms but must protect its citizens from thugs backed by unnamed foreign countries.