Twenty civilians dead after airstrikes near Idlib in Syria
dpa
BEIRUT (dpa)- At least 20 civilians, among them 16 children, were killed Wednesday when airstrikes targeted an area in north-western Syria, a monitoring group and civil defence teams said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes targeted the area of Kfar Batikh, in the southern part of of Idlib province.
It added that the death toll is likely to increase as many people are still buried under the rubble.
The head of the Idlib branch of the rescue team White Helmets, Mustapha al-Haj-Youssef, told dpa that "children were at the school when the first strike took place, they got scared and ran to hide in a nearby cave.
"The second strike hit the cave directly, killing all the children inside, as well as a man and a woman," he added.
Al-Haj-Youssef said the second strike was "probably by a Russian plane."
The Observatory could not identify the identity of the raiding plane.
Idlib is mainly controlled by the hardline al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. The province has been targeted by government and Russian airstrikes in the past few weeks.
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The head of the Idlib branch of the rescue team White Helmets, Mustapha al-Haj-Youssef, told dpa that "children were at the school when the first strike took place, they got scared and ran to hide in a nearby cave.
"The second strike hit the cave directly, killing all the children inside, as well as a man and a woman," he added.
Al-Haj-Youssef said the second strike was "probably by a Russian plane."
The Observatory could not identify the identity of the raiding plane.
Idlib is mainly controlled by the hardline al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. The province has been targeted by government and Russian airstrikes in the past few weeks.
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