Violent Melee Ensnares U.N. Monitor Convoy in Syria BEIRUT, Lebanon - A convoy of unarmed United Nations monitors got caught up in a violent confrontation between protesters and Syrian government forces on Monday, with activist organizations putting the casualty toll in the melee at around 20 killed and dozens wounded. The United Nations monitors escaped unscathed, but three of their four vehicles were damaged by some kind of explosive device, said a statement from Ahmed Fawzi, the spokesman for Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League special envoy for Syria. Eyewitnesses reached via Skype in Khan Sheikhoun, the town where the confrontation took place in the embattled northwestern province of Idlib, said that a large crowd had turned out for the funeral of a man killed by government forces two days earlier near Hama. The mourners were surprised when a United Nations convoy rolled into town and headed toward the area where government forces are concentrated in the town, which residents refer to as the "Mantiqa," the Arabic word for area. The observers were apparently going to survey the fortified checkpoints - the truce negotiated by Mr. Annan requires that armed forces and heavy weapons should be withdrawn from population centers. Emboldened by the presence of the monitors, some residents started demonstrating nearer to the checkpoints and the government area than they normally would. When they were at close range, the soldiers opened fire, said the eyewitnesses, and somewhere in the fracas the distinctive white United Nations vehicles were heavily damaged. An amateur video posted online shows the lead vehicle lurching and then listing, its front hood blown open, after a loud bang sends up a cloud of dust. "It was a messy scene with bodies on the ground and people running from one corner to another," said Abu Ziad, a doctor using his nickname out of fear of retribution. I managed to carry one man shot in the head, but unfortunately he died a few minutes later. Another amateur video labeled as from the town posted on You Tube showed several bloody corpses that had been piled onto the seats of a small bus. The government forces fired on anyone who tried to approach the damaged United Nations vehicle, said Mohamed, another resident. A second United Nations team was dispatched to bring out the first, said the statement from Mr. Fawzi. There was no immediate reaction from the official Syrian government television or news agency. The government sharply limits access to independent journalists, making confirmation of events difficult. In Damascus, the government announced long delayed results from the May 7 election for the 250-seat parliament, emphasizing what it said was a participation rate that exceeded 51 percent. But in broadcasting the results live on Syrian state television, Judge Khalaf al-Azzawi, the chairman of the higher committee for elections, avoided questions about the number of voters in embattled provinces like Homs or Idlib, and refused to characterize the political affiliation of the new members. The parliament has long served as a rubber stamp for the Assad regime, and the final results indicated that either members of the ruling Baath Party or its official opposition had taken two-thirds of the seats Some Syrians expressed disappointment that yet another election that President Bashar al-Assad had trumpeted as a step toward real change was instead marked by past practices. But the announcement from Rome that the Syrian National Council, an umbrella organization for political exiles, had again chosen Burhan Ghalioun as its head caused similar criticism since the council had said it would rotate the presidency of its executive committee every three months, and this is Mr. Ghalioun's third term. "Both elections come with representatives who represent nothing and nobody," said Salih, a 25-year-old activist in northern Damascus, adding that Syrians were still waiting the day when they could pick their own representatives. A Syrian employee of The New York Times contributed reporting from Damascus.