Over 230 killed in Syria since launch of US-led attacks

Beirut, Sep 30 (IANS/EFE) At least 233 people have died in Syria since the airstrikes launched by the US-led international coalition against Islamic State (IS) positions, the manager of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abderrahman, told Spanish news agency Efe Tuesday.

Abderrahman said during a phone conversation that at least 211 jihadis had died since Sep 23 when the coalition started its bombardments in Syria.

The activist added that this figure includes at least 60 members of the Nusra Front, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

Twenty-two civilians have also been killed by the coalition.

The attacks have targeted positions and bases of the IS in the northern Syrian provinces of Raqaa, Deir al-Zur, al-Hasakah, Aleppo, and Idleb, along with oil fields which had been seized by the radical jihadis.

According to US officials, the target of the first airstrikes in Syria were members of the Khorasan group which includes veteran Al Qaeda fighters and is seen as a major threat by the US.

The US and its coalition allies began airstrikes last week on the IS in Syria, adding targets there to its weeks-old air campaign against the jihadis in Iraq.

--IANS/EFE

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