162 civilians killed in coalition bombings against IS in Syria

Damascus, June 23 (IANS/EFE) At least 162 civilians have been killed since September last year when the US-led international coalition started to carry out bombing raids against Islamic State positions in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.

According to the latest figures released by Observatory, 2,896 people, including civilians and militants, were killed since the beginning of the airstrikes on September 23, 2014.

Civilian fatalities included 52 children and 35 women, mostly in bombings against oil facilities under IS control in al-Hasakah, Deir al-Zour, al-Raqqa, Aleppo and Idlib, all in northern Syria.

The Britain-based rights group also highlighted the slaughter committed by the international coalition between April 30 and May 1 in the village of Bir Mahali in Aleppo, where at least 64 people were killed.

Meanwhile, IS suffered at least 2,628 casualties, mostly foreign fighters.

Additionally, at least 105 members of al-Nusra Front, the branch of Al Qaeda in Syria, were killed in airstrikes by the international coalition that targeted its barracks in Aleppo and Idlib cities.

One of the victims was a rebel from an anti-IS Syrian group who was killed in an international coalition bombing raid against an IS military base where he was being held captive in Madan, on the outskirts of al-Raqqa, the group's stronghold in Syria.

Coalition airstrikes have also caused hundreds of injures, mostly IS members.

Just about one year ago, IS proclaimed a caliphate in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq.

--IANS/EFE

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