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Airstrikes hit Syrian rebels

October 18, 2012

Syrian fighter jets have hit rebel-held areas in the country's north with a series of airstrikes. According to anti-regime activists at least 20 people were killed in the attacks.

https://p.dw.com/p/16S57
In this citizen journalism image provided by Lens Young Homsi, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a destroyed house from Syrian government forces shelling, at Jouret al-Shiyah, in Homs province, Syria, (Photo:Lens Yong Homsi/AP/dapd)
Image: dapd

Syrian activists reported on Thursday that government airstrikes targeted a total of four towns in the northern Idlib and Aleppo provinces. They said a number of children were among the victims killed when the bombing began late on Wednesday and continued into Thursday.

According to the news agency AFP, the death toll may be considerably higher than initially estimated. "We have recovered 44 corpses from under the rubble," one rescue worker told the news agency. AFP had previously been reported that at least 20 people were killed and 30 were missing.

Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble for survivors. Video footage posted online showed survivors pulling bodies from flattened buildings, although activist's claims and videos cannot be independently verified.

According to the Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights at least 32,000 people have been killed during the 19-month uprising.

ccp/mkg (AFP, AP)