Airstrikes kill dozens of civilians

BEIRUT (AP) — A fresh wave of airstrikes in eastern Syria killed at least 35 civilians including women and children, state media and a monitoring group reported Friday, as the UN human rights chief said civilians are increasingly paying the price of escalating attacks against the Islamic State group in the country.

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein’s comments came hours after airstrikes on the IS-held eastern Syrian town of Mayadeen killed dozens, many of them family members of IS fighters.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes were conducted by the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS. It added that the airstrikes began around sunset Thursday as people were heading to mosques for evening prayers and continued until the early hours of Friday.

“The same civilians who are suffering indiscriminate shelling and summary executions by ISIL, are also falling victim to the escalating airstrikes, particularly in the northeastern governorates of” Raqqa and Deir el-Zour, al-Hussein said in a statement from Geneva.

“Unfortunately, scant attention is being paid by the outside world to the appalling predicament of the civilians trapped in these areas.”

The airstrikes came as the U.S. military said it killed three IS fighters in attacks in Syria and Iraq over the past month.

The Observatory later said a total of 106 people have been killed in Mayadeen since Thursday evening, including IS fighters and 42 children.

The monitoring group said among the 106 were 80 people who perished when a four-story building housing families of IS fighters from Syria and north Africa was destroyed in an airstrike. More than 20, including 10 IS fighters, were killed in other airstrikes that hit the municipality building among other places.