The European Union condemned on Monday (August 27th) a "massacre" in the town of Daraya near Damascus, where the opposition reported the discovery of hundreds of bodies.

"We regret and strongly condemn this sort of violence, it's totally unacceptable," Michael Mann, spokesman for Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative for foreign affairs, said during a news briefing.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday the discovery of 320 bodies in Daraya, including at least 15 women and 14 children. Another 14 bodies were added to records on Monday.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground, described the killings as a "massacre" by the regime of President Bashar Assad.

The discovery came several days after the army led an offensive against opposition fighters in Daraya. Syria's official SANA news agency says the offensive was aimed at "terrorist mercenaries" in the town.

An estimated 25,000 people -- most of them civilians -- have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of a revolt in March 2011, according to Observatory figures cited by AFP.