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Syria conflict: UN urges inquiry into deadly air strike on school | Syria conflict: UN urges inquiry into deadly air strike on school |
(about 1 hour later) | |
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has demanded an immediate investigation into an air strike in Syria on Wednesday that hit a school, killing more than 20 children. | |
"If deliberate, this attack may amount to a war crime," he said. | |
Russia has said neither it nor Syria carried out the attack in the village of Hass in rebel-held Idlib. | |
Syrian media and a monitoring group meanwhile say rebel fire killed several children at a school in government-held western Aleppo on Thursday. | |
State news agency Sana said three children died when shells hit the school in the Shahaba area. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said six children were killed in both that incident and rebel shelling of the government-held district of Hamdaniya. | |
It came as the UN warned that the coming winter could be the worst yet in Syria's five-year-long civil war. | |
The head of the UN's humanitarian task force for Syria, Jan Egeland, said the brutal conflict had become "more ruthless" and was affecting increasing numbers of civilians, including children. | |
Five Syrian schools, including the one in Idlib, have been targeted since 11 October, the UN's children's fund Unicef said. | Five Syrian schools, including the one in Idlib, have been targeted since 11 October, the UN's children's fund Unicef said. |
Emergency workers in Syria and the SOHR said on Thursday the death toll from the Idlib attack had risen to 35, and that most of the victims were children. | |
It appears the bomb fell in the village, about 75km (45 miles) south-west of Aleppo, as children were getting ready to go home early because of air strikes. | |
The BBC has not been able to independently verify the details of the attack. | The BBC has not been able to independently verify the details of the attack. |
A spokesman for Russia's defence ministry, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, said the claim was a fabrication and that a Russian drone had found the school's roof still intact on Thursday. | A spokesman for Russia's defence ministry, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov, said the claim was a fabrication and that a Russian drone had found the school's roof still intact on Thursday. |
But the SOHR, which gathers information from a network of people within the country, said "warplanes - either Russian or Syrian" had carried out six air strikes on the village. | |
Activists shared photographs of dead bodies - many of them children - on the floor of a makeshift treatment centre. | Activists shared photographs of dead bodies - many of them children - on the floor of a makeshift treatment centre. |
Mr Ban said: "If such horrific acts persist despite global outrage, it is largely because their authors, whether in corridors of power or in insurgent redoubts, do not fear justice. | Mr Ban said: "If such horrific acts persist despite global outrage, it is largely because their authors, whether in corridors of power or in insurgent redoubts, do not fear justice. |
"They must be proved wrong." | "They must be proved wrong." |
Unicef chief Anthony Lake said the incident might be the deadliest attack on a school since the war began. | |
"Children lost forever to their families, teachers lost forever to their students, one more scar on Syria's future - when will the world's revulsion at such barbarity be matched by insistence that this must stop?" | "Children lost forever to their families, teachers lost forever to their students, one more scar on Syria's future - when will the world's revulsion at such barbarity be matched by insistence that this must stop?" |
Nowhere safe | Nowhere safe |
Idlib is one of the last strongholds of the Syrian opposition, and the province has been repeatedly bombed by the Syrian and Russian air forces. | Idlib is one of the last strongholds of the Syrian opposition, and the province has been repeatedly bombed by the Syrian and Russian air forces. |
The US-led coalition against so-called Islamic State (IS) has also targeted rival jihadist fighters linked to al-Qaeda who operate there. | The US-led coalition against so-called Islamic State (IS) has also targeted rival jihadist fighters linked to al-Qaeda who operate there. |
As part of efforts by the UN, the people of eastern Aleppo are being offered safe passage to the province, the BBC's James Longman in Beirut says. | As part of efforts by the UN, the people of eastern Aleppo are being offered safe passage to the province, the BBC's James Longman in Beirut says. |
But as these latest attacks demonstrate, he adds, nowhere in rebel-held Syria is free from violence. | But as these latest attacks demonstrate, he adds, nowhere in rebel-held Syria is free from violence. |