Between two and 12 civilians were killed – and four were wounded – in an airstrike on Kafr Takharim hospital, local media reported. All sources blamed Russian warplanes for the raid.
It must be noted there were two separate airstrikes on Kafr Tkharim on the 24th April 2017. One occurred in the mountainous region of al Duweila, and the other on Kafr Takharim hospital. See incident RS2165 for a full report on the other strike.
It is unclear whether the victimns of the airstrike on Kafr Takharim hospital were in fact wounded civilians from the previous strike on the region of al Duweila or not. EdlibNN tweetted that 15 were killed as a result of Russian aviation on both Kafr Takharim hospital and al Duweila.
Additionally, the Syrian Civil Defence reported that “Russian warplanes launched several air raids on the town of Duweila, killing 15 people, including a woman. The wounded and wounded were taken to Kafr Takharim surgical hospital.The Russian warplanes returned, targeting the hospital with two airstrikes, wounding the injured again and some of the hospital staff, destroying the hospital and its equipment.” This suggests the warplanes followed the wounded to the hospital following the first strike. Ana press however, claimed that the strikes happened simultaneously and that the wounded from the Duweila strike, only escalated the situation occurring in Kafr Takharim hospital.
Al Jazeera reported that 12 people killed in the airstrike on the hospital were allegedly “gunmen”. They are the only source to claim this.
Syria news desk however, put the number of civilians killed as low as two.
The hospital was reportedly rendered out of use. Smart news agency reported that the wounded were transferred from the hospital to a nearby field due to the nature of the damage to the hospital.
Two ambulances were struck and destroyed in the raid.
Four members of staff – including a doctor – were wounded.
The incident occured at 02:00:00 local time.
The victims were named as:
