At least 42 civilians were killed Monday in a
barrage of US-led air strikes on Islamic State
group territory in the Syrian city of Raqa, a
monitor said.
Nineteen children and 12 women were among
those killed in the raids, which hit several
neighbourhoods in the northern city, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP
on Tuesday.
The toll marked the second consecutive day of
ferocious bombardment on Raqa, more than
half of which has been captured by the US-
backed Syrian Democratic Forces battling IS.
The latest figures for Monday’s raids take to
167 the number of civilians killed in coalition
strikes since August 14, after the Observatory
said at least 27 were killed on Sunday.
“The tolls are high because the air strikes are
hitting neighbourhoods in the city centre that
are densely packed with civilians,” said
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
“There are buildings full of civilians that are
trying to get away from the front lines.
“Coalition air strikes are targeting any
building where any kind of Daesh movements
are being detected,” he told AFP, using an
Arabic acronym for IS.
The United Nations estimates there are up to
25,000 civilians trapped inside the city, with
food and fuel supplies short and prohibitively
expensive.
The UN’s humanitarian pointman for Syria,
Jan Egeland, has said IS-held territory in Raqa
city is now “the worst place” in the war-torn
country.
More than 330,000 people have been killed in
Syria’s conflict, which began with anti-
government protests in 2011 but has since
mushroomed into all-out war drawing in world
powers.
The US-led coalition, which operates in both
Syria and neighbouring Iraq, says it takes all
possible measures to avoid civilian casualties.
In August, it acknowledged the deaths of 624
civilians in its strikes in Syria and Iraq since
2014, but rights groups say the number is
much higher.
Source: punchng
No comments:
Post a Comment