Syrian air strike on rebel area kills more than 30: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Syrian Media Organization posted footage on YouTube of several bodies lying on a blood-stained floor.

A Syrian air strike killed more than 30 people in a rebel-held area near Damascus on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group and opposition activists said.

Syrian government officials were not immediately available to comment on the reported attack in Hamoria, a district in the Eastern Ghouta area that has been besieged by security forces.

The opposition Syrian Media Organization posted footage on YouTube of several bodies lying on a blood-stained floor, some of them children with blast wounds. Other bodies lay under white shrouds or jackets and a caption said more than 30 people had been killed.

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The Observatory, which monitors the war in Syria, said 32 people had been killed, including six children, in what it described as a massacre.

The opposition grassroots Local Coordination Committees said on its Facebook page that the strike hit a public square where people were leaving a mosque after Friday prayers.

Another opposition group, the Shaam News Network, published a video on its Facebook page showing what it said was the aftermath of a blast in an open square. Bodies lay on the road and buildings were damaged.

Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. An employee at the information ministry in Damascus said there would be no one to answer questions until Saturday.

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The United Nations says 200,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war, which started after security forces cracked down on pro-democracy protests in 2011.

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