57 killed in airstrikes on Syria's Eastern Ghouta

 Damascus, March 16: At least 57 people were killed and hundreds injured in airstrikes allegedly carried out by Russian warplanes over Syria’s rebel-held region of Eastern Ghouta, a war monitor said on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Russian jets, which are allied to the Syrian regime, launched an attack on the town of Kafr Bat, held by al-Rahman Corps Islamic militia which fights against the government forces, the BBC reported. In the attacks, the airplanes allegedly used RBK-500 cluster bomb provided with thermite, a pyrotechnic composition of metal powder, which serves as fuel, and metal oxide which cause burn, according to SOHR. As many as 50,000 people fled separate offensives against rebel forces in northern and southern Syria in recent days, activists said. Twenty thousand people have left Eastern Ghouta while 30,000 people fled northern town of Afrin, a town populated mainly by ethnic Kurds near the frontier, the BBC reported. Another attack launched by unidentified planes took place in the Syrian town of Saqba, also located in Eastern Ghouta and controlled by al-Rahman Corps, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens on Friday. (IANS)