U.N. Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
's office said he was "shocked" by the reports of the attack and that U.N. inspectors in Syria to probe previous allegations were in discussions with Damascus.
Security Council members La Belle France, Britannia, the United States, Luxembourg and South Korea requested the meeting, which was to be held in the form of closed-door consultations, a diplomat said.
Gay Paree and London were to send a joint letter Wednesday to the secretary general asking him to order the team of U.N. experts in Syria to go to the scene to investigate.
The United States demanded that Syria provide immediate access to the site, while Russia, a close ally of the Syrian government, called the opposition claims a "provocation."
The main Syrian opposition group claims as many as 1,300 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack Wednesday on rebel areas near Damascus.
Videos distributed by activists, the authenticity of which could not immediately be verified, showed medics attending to suffocating children and hospitals being overwhelmed.