Syria's foreign ministry on Thursday said it "categorically rejects" the finding of the global chemical weapons agency published last week that a "toxic chemical" containing chlorine was used in an attack last April on a Syrian rebel-held town.

"The Syrian Arab Republic categorically rejects the conclusions of the mission team," the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA. "(The report) was no different to previous reports from the mission, which were full of blatant distortion of facts."