162 civilians killed in coalition bombings against IS

Damascus, June 23: At least 162 civilians have been killed since September last year when the US-led intertiol 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 intertiol 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. Additiolly, at least 105 members of al-Nusra Front, the branch of Al Qaeda in Syria, were killed in airstrikes by the intertiol coalition that targeted its barracks in Aleppo and Idlib cities. (IANS)