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US-led air strikes on Isis stronghold leave dozens dead including civilians US-led air strikes hit Isis stronghold of Raqqa
(about 2 hours later)
A US-led coalition has carried out some of its heaviest air strikes yet on Islamic State’s de-facto Syrian capital, killing at least 30 people, including six civilians, according to a human rights monitor. US-led coalition aircraft have conducted a series of air strikes targeting the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria, killing at least 10 militants and wounding many others, in one of the largest such operations in the country to date.
The strikes on Saturday night and Sunday morning also damaged infrastructure in Raqqa, the group’s bastion in northern Syria. At least 16 air strikes were reported late on Saturday and early on Sunday. The US-led coalition often targets Isis-held towns and cities in Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were unusual in their intensity.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 30 people had been killed in US-led coalition strikes, including six civilians, among them a child. The rest were Isis fighters, the Britain-based monitor said. A US military spokesman said the air strikes had destroyed Isis-controlled structures and transit routes. “The significant air strikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” said Lt Col Thomas Gilleran, using the Arabic acronym for Isis.
The US-led coalition said the strikes were some of its heaviest since it began carrying out raids against Isis in Syria last September. Related: Syria airstrikes would fortify UK against Isis attacks, argues Michael Fallon
“The significant air strikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh [Isis] the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gilleran said in a coalition statement. “This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria and it will have debilitating effects on Daesh’s ability to move from Raqqa.” “This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria, and it will have debilitating effects on Daesh’s ability to move” from Raqqa, he said.
Raqqa is the de facto capital of the Iraqi and Syrian territory Isis declared an Islamic caliphate declared a year ago.
An Isis-affiliated website confirmed the strikes on the centre of the city, saying 10 people had been killed and dozens wounded. It also published photographs purportedly showing victims, including two of young boys, and suggested they were civilians.
A Raqqa-based anti-Isis network said eight civilians including a 10-year-old child had been killed. The report could not be independently confirmed.
The network, called Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, said at least one air strike targeted a group of Isis members in the city centre. Another targeted an checkpoint and a third destroyed large parts of a brick factory.
In the remote north-eastern city of Hassake, Isis suicide bombers detonated a truck packed with explosives near a main power plant on Sunday. The state-run Sana news agency reported casualties and material damage at the plant on the southern edge of the city.
Related: Isis video shows killing of Syrian troops at Palmyra amphitheatreRelated: Isis video shows killing of Syrian troops at Palmyra amphitheatre
Coalition forces “successfully engaged multiple targets” throughout Raqqa, the statement said, destroying Isis structures and transit routes. The strikes “have severely constricted terrorist freedom of movement”, it added. Fighting has intensified in Hassake since Isis attacked several southern neighbourhoods held by government troops this month. The violence has prompted tens of thousands of residents to flee.
The raids came after Isis released a video on Saturday appearing to show the execution of 25 Syrian soldiers in the ancient amphitheatre in the city of Palmyra. The predominantly Kurdish city was split between government forces and Kurdish fighters, who have been fighting Isis separately.
The executions had been reported earlier, in the days after Isis seized the town from government forces on 21 May, but the video appeared to be the first evidence of the killings.
In Iraq, a defence ministry statement said government forces had repelled an Isis attack on the town of Haditha and a nearby dam in western Anbar province on Sunday morning.
At least 20 militants were killed in the failed attack, the statement said. Iraqi forces backed by Shia militias have struggled to recapture northern and western areas of the country from the militants.
In May, Isis overran Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, but Haditha and other towns remain under government control.