United Nations, Nov 18 (IANS): The UN Security Council has decided to renew the mandate of an investigative mechanism tasked with identifying perpetrators of chemical attacks in Syria for a period of one year.

In a unanimously adopted resolution on Thursday, the 15-nation council requested the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) of the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to complete a report within 90 days, Xinhua news agency reported.

The resolution encourages JIM to work with UN counter-terrorism and non-proliferation bodies to determine whether a specific incident likely involved the use of chemical weapons.

Chemical attacks are believed to have taken place in several areas in Syria over the past year.

In August 2015, the Security Council established JIM to determine who used the deadly chlorine gas in attacks.

JIM has so far published four reports accusing the Syrian government and the Islamic State of involvement in the alleged chemical attacks.

However, the Syrian government has rejected the accusations, saying the probe lacked physical evidence.