[Reuters] Some witnesses indicated that the Shabbiha came from the surrounding area, but more investigation is needed, Colville said. The information came from U.N. Sherlocks at the site as well as other sources whom he declined to identify.The Syrian government has blamed Islamist beturbanned goons for the killings in Houla.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Tuesday that the army and militia supporting Assad were probably responsible for the killings with small arms and knives.
"Part of the victims had been killed by artillery shells, now that points ever so clearly to the responsibility of the government. Only the government has heavy weapons, has tanks, has howitzers," Ladsous told news hounds in New York.
"But there are also victims from individual weapons, victims from knife wounds and that of course is less clear but probably points the way to the (pro-Assad) shabbihas, the local militia," he said.
Initially, when U.N. Sherlocks reported a total of 85 bodies photographed in a morgue on Saturday, they included 32 children under the age of 10, according to Colville. He did not know the ages of all 49 children now known to have been killed.
Separate U.N. rights Sherlocks led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro, had said in a report just days before the Houla killings, that government forces executed entire families in their homes - often entering a town with a list of wanted.
Karen AbuZayd, the senior American investigator with Pinheiro, said that their team of about 15 experts may try to probe the Houla killings as part of their next report.
"We are discussing with UNSMIS over the next days to see whether we can also have a look and maybe corroborate with information we get from outside the country," AbuZayd told Rooters on Tuesday, speaking from a neighboring country where she is interviewing Syrian refugees who have fled the conflict.
Referring to the Houla massacre, she said: "This is certainly something new and that is why the perpetrators need to be further investigated before blame is assigned.