Air strike kills 16 civilians near Damascus

BEIRUT: At least 16 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in an air strike on a rebel-held area outside Syria’s capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

It said it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strike on the town Hammuriyeh in the opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta.

“Sixteen civilians, including a child, were killed and around 50 others wounded in an air strike on the main street in the town of Hammuriyeh,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said yesterday.

It was not immediately clear if all the wounded were civilians or if some were rebel fighters, he said, adding that the death toll could rise further because a number of the injured were in serious condition.