Syria: Six children among 19 dead in Aleppo air strike

Regime air strikes and rocket attacks hit several neighbourhoods in the eastern part of Aleppo

Alexandra Sims
Thursday 02 June 2016 21:11 BST
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Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo
Men inspect damage after an airstrike on Aleppo

Six children are among 19 civilians killed in a regime bombing of opposition-held neighbourhoods in Syria's second city of Aleppo, the civil defence has said.

Regime air strikes and rocket attacks hit several neighbourhoods in the eastern part of the town on Thursday, a civil defence official said.

In pictures of the attack a Syrian man is seen carrying a severely wounded baby through the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Men inspect damage after an air strike on Aleppo

"Five people, including three children, were killed in rocket attacks in Al-Amiriya neighborhood, and 14, including three other children, by air raids in four other districts," the civil defence source told AFP.

Aleppo has been divided between western neighborhoods controlled by the government of Bashar al-Assad and eastern neighborhoods under rebel control.

The attack comes as a motorcycle bomb was detonated outside a mosque on Syria’s government controlled coast line on Thursday.

Television footage showed bodies being loaded into a lorry outside the al-Khulafa Rashideen mosque in Latakia city as firefighters fought a large blaze.

The number of casualties was initially unknown as rescue operations continued, but several are feared dead.

Reports on Syrian state television said the blast struck while people were leaving the mosque following afternoon prayers.

Just days earlier a series of co-ordinated bombings struck the coastal city of Tartous and the town of Jableh on the Syrian coast, killing around 160 people.

Isis said it had carried out the simultaneous attacks but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's bombing.

Fighting across the war-ravaged country has increased dramatically in recent weeks after peace talks between non-Isis rebel groups and the Assad broke down.

The regime, with the help of Russian air strikes, has continued its assault on Aleppo where rebels struggle to hold on to the latest parts of the city under their control.

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