Govt's barrel bombings kill 75, dozens in critical condition

dimeji akinloye

May 31, 2015 4:33 PM

Aljazeera reports that the killings occurred in two separate incidents – helicopters were seen dropping explosives-filled barrels, the action which is considered illegal under international law.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday condemned the "brutality" of the Syrian government under President Bashar al-Assad for its sustained barrel bomb campaign, which has already killed more than 150 people in Aleppo.

At least 75 people have died and scores injured in Syria after government dropped a series of bomb in Aleppo province, medical sources and a monitoring group said.

Aljazeera reports that the killings which occurred on Saturday, May 29, was in two separate incidents – helicopters were seen dropping explosives-filled barrels, the action which is considered illegal under international law.

One barrel bomb hit the rebel-held Shaar neighbourhood of Aleppo, killing at least 20 people, most of them from the same family, local activists told Al Jazeera.

In the second attack, at least 55 people were killed after bombs hit a busy market in al-Bab city – about 40km northeast of Aleppo city, which is controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which documents violence through a network of activists on the ground, dubbed the al-Bab attack as a “massacre,” adding that the number of dead likely would rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition.

This comes a day after rebel fighters seized the last government-controlled town in the country’s northwestern province of Idlib after government forces retreated to their coastal bases, according to activists and a monitoring group.

A Syrian coalition known as the Fattah Army seized the town of Ariha on Thursday, giving the group full control of Idlib province.

dimeji akinloye