Syria children among 23 killed in Aleppo missile strike: NGO

Beirut, Feb 19 (AFP) Ten children were among at least 23 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said today. "It is likely a surface-to-surface missile strike" hit Jabal Badro on the edge of Aleppo late yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Ten children aged under 16 years and three women were among the dead, and the "toll is likely to rise as bodies are being rescued from under the rubble," the Britain-based Observatory said, adding that people were critically injured. There were no planes overhead when the missile hit, according to residents cited by the Observatory, and the extent of the destruction indicated a surface-to-surface missile was likely used, director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. Abu Hisham, an Aleppo-based citizen journalist who spoke to AFP via the Internet, said "housing in the district was informally built. It took one surface-to-surface rocket to destroy an entire neighbourhood." Video footage and photographs shot by activists in Aleppo, scene of fierce fighting since the army launched an all-out assault to stop a rebel advance on Syria's second city on July 20, showed massive destruction in Jabal Badro. Amateur video posted online by the anti-regime Aleppo Media Centre showed crowds of people gathering around hills of rubble and a bulldozer shovelling the debris as residents searched for relatives. "I swear to God! I rescued a baby aged just two months from the rubble!" cried an unidentified man interviewed by an amateur cameraman. AFP could not authenticate the video. Activists have reported the army's use of surface-to-surface missiles on various targets in northern Syria since late 2012. A security source in Damascus told AFP late last year that such missiles were a Syrian-made version of the Scud, and NATO has since reported ballistic missiles being used in Syria. (AFP) SAI 02192110 NNNN