Regime ready for talks, depending on attendees

A new airstrike kills scores, including a number of terrorists.

damascus, syria » The Syrian government announced Saturday it is ready to attend peace talks in Geneva later this month with the opposition as a new airstrike in northern Syria killed and wounded scores of people, including many terrorists.

But Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Damascus also wants to see lists of the opposition groups who will attend and ensure that terrorist groups will not be represented.

State news agency SANA said al-Moallem made his comments Saturday while meeting in Damascus with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura. Al-Moallem’s comments came shortly before opposition activists said an airstrike had killed at least 39 and wounded dozens of others.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 39 people were killed, including many fighters from al-Qaeda’s terrorist affiliate in Syria, the Nusra Front, as well as detainees in the northwestern town of Maaret al-Numan. It said the targeted area included a jail and a courthouse run by the Nusra Front.

The Nusra Front is one of the country’s most powerful factions and is opposed to peace talks with the government, saying its aim is to step up an Islamic state in Syria. The group is fighting against government forces, the Islamic State terrorist group as well as some U.S.-backed rebel factions. Much like its rival — the Islamic State — the Nusra Front imposes its own vision of Islamic Shariah law in territories it controls — including Islamic courts and prisons.

The Syrian government has been carrying out airstrikes for years, which activists say have killed thousands of people. Russia began its own air campaign Sept. 30, saying its airstrikes are meant to weaken the Islamic State group and other terrorists in Syria.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said the airstrike killed 51.

The group posted a photo on its Facebook page showing several bodies covered with blankets and lined on a pavement. Another showed two dead bearded young men being loaded into an ambulance.

Syria-based activist Hadi Abdallah wrote on his Twitter account that the air raid killed 43 and wounded more than 100, claiming it was carried out by Russian aircraft.