Forty-two people were killed and many more wounded Thursday in an air attack on a mosque in a rebel-held village in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Syrian Civil Defense, volunteer paramedics known as the White Helmets, said first responders raced to the scene after the airstrike in the Jeenah area, in Aleppo province. The first responders and local activists reported a lower death toll, saying at least 20 people had been killed.
The London-based observatory said the mosque was packed with worshippers for evening prayers. It said more than 100 people were wounded, with many still trapped in the rubble of the collapsed mosque.
The observatory said it was unable to determine whose planes carried out the raid.
In the past, the Syrian and Russian military have carried out airstrikes in Idlib and Aleppo provinces during the six-year civil war. Along with the Syrians and Russians, a U.S.-led coalition has warplanes operating separately in Syria.
The airstrike came a day after suicide attacks in the capital, Damascus, killed at least 30 people on the sixth anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict.
The civil war has killed 400,000 people, wounded more than 1 million and displaced half the country’s population.
VOA
