A convoy of the international chemical weapons inspectors in Syria came under attack while traveling to the site of a suspected chlorine gas attack in the central Syrian province of Hama, but all staff members were safe, the international watchdog agency said.

“All team members are safe and well and heading back to their operating base,” Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) spokesman Michael Luhan told AFP.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has been working with the United Nations to oversee the destruction of the Syrian government's stockpiles since September 2013, when President Bashar Assad's administration acknowledged it has chemical weapons and agreed to give them up to avoid the threat of U.S. military strikes, Associated Press reported.

Syria has since destroyed or handed over more than 90 percent of the weapons and toxic chemicals it has formally declared. Its sole remaining declared stockpile has been packaged for shipment out of the country to meet a June 30 deadline for destruction.

However, last month allegations surfaced that chlorine gas has been used as a weapon in fighting between the government and rebels. Chlorine is not banned under chemical weapons conventions, and it was not part of Syria's disclosures. However, using any toxic material in warfare violates chemical weapons treaties and international law.

The circumstances of Tuesday's attack were unclear. Syria's Foreign Ministry initially reported that 11 people, including six members of a U.N. fact-finding mission and their Syrian drivers, had been abducted by rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime. But the OPCW issued a statement shortly afterward saying a convoy had come under attack but “all team members are safe and well and are travelling back to the operating base.”

Opposition activists could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the convoy, which consisted of four vehicles, was heading toward the rebel-held town of Kfar Zeita where activists and Human Rights Watch reported gas attacks on April 11 and April 18 that killed two people.

It said the government had agreed to a daylong cease-fire in the town in the central province of Hama “to facilitate the work of this mission.” As the team reached the nearby government-controlled village of Taibet al-Imam, the government said it was unable to provide protection beyond that point but the team decided to continue without Syrian security forces, according to the statement.

[Al Arabiya with Associated Press]