In a major civilian casualty event, up to 31 civilians including at least nine children and five women from several families died and as many as 70 more were wounded in multiple airstrikes on residential buildings in Aleppo’s Al Qaterji neighbourhood, according to local media. Many sources blamed Russia for the event, though several also pointed to the regime. Micro Syria quoted the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul Rahman, who said that “it was not known whether the raids were Syrian regime or Russian”.
All sources, however, were agreed on the widespread destruction inflicted on the area – and a death toll which rose into double figures. At least two residential buildings – including a five-storey apartment block – were reportedly destroyed in the attack, leaving tens of people trapped under the rubble.
According to Focusaleppo, “On Sunday [Oct 16th] , Syrian and Russian warplanes targeted a car repair shop in the Al Qaterji district with four air strikes, killing 31 civilians and injuring more than 70. The civil defence said in a statement that the shelling targeted a five-story residential building, completely destroying it and damaging adjacent buildings inhabited by residents close to the targeted area. Civil defence teams were able to rescue many of the injured and transport them to field hospitals, though there are still people trapped under the rubble.”
@rola1katib provided a brief and chilling tweet, stating that “most of the martyrs were buried alive under their homes”.
Syria News reported that “high-explosive rockets were used on the neighbourhood for the first time”, while Halab News reported that Russia deployed “bunker busting missiles”.
While the majority of sources said that Russia was responsible, The Syrian Network for Human Rights attributed the event to the regime, reporting at least 13 civilian deaths, including “Fatima, Rimas, Jinan Abu Akhras and their mother”.
@iphs_tr – put death toll at 30 publishing images of a child who survived being treated in a medical facility. According to the White Helmets “the child Marouf” was rescued. Many sources published images of the children slain in this event: @ahmad09904 named a little girl as “Amira“, while @plespost posted a picture of five dead infants.
Halab News and BNN named 25 civilians as killed and included 4 unidentified civilians from the Sharfo family.
The local time of the incident is unknown.
