Global Courant
Activists and aid workers in Syria say at least nine people have been killed in an airstrike over a busy vegetable market in the northwest.
By means ofGHAITH ALSAYED Associated Press
JISR AL-SHUGHUR, Syria — An airstrike on a busy vegetable market in northwestern Syria killed at least nine people on Sunday morning, activists and local aid workers said.
Activists and Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Russia, a top ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has launched the attack on the strategic opposition-held town of Jisr al-Shughur near the Turkish border.
The strike comes a day after Moscow’s top mercenary group briefly rebelled against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The opposition-held civil defense organization of northwestern Syria, known as the White Helmets, said more than 30 people were injured and expected the death toll to rise.
“We hear that the seriously injured died after reaching the hospital,” Ahmad Yaziji of the White Helmets told The Associated Press. “It was a targeted attack on the main vegetable market where growers from northern Syria congregate.”
Farmers rushed the injured to hospital in bloodied vegetable trucks, while activists made urgent calls for blood donations.
Neither Syria nor Russia commented on the airstrike, although Damascus says the attacks in the northwestern province are targeting armed insurgents.
Northwestern Syria is largely controlled by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al Sham and Turkish-backed forces.
___
Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Lebanon contributed to this report.
