(Previous Incident Code: R327)

At least 10 civilians including three women and two children were killed and ten to 12 wounded in alleged Russian airstrikes on Ma’aratsa Al Khan, according to multiple sources. The targets appear to have included a civilian bus.

The Shaam News Network reported that “Russian aircraft committed a massacre in the town of Ma’arasta Al Khan west of the two Shi’ite villages“, claiming 13 lives and wounding more than a dozen.

The White Helmets put the death toll at 10, with 12 others wounded, but did not say who the “warplanes” that carried out the two raids belonged to.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights produced three reports.The first blamed the Assad regime and said 10 civilians including three women were killed.

However, subsequent reports said Russian warplanes were responsible for shelling the road that leads to the town of Hayyan, next to “the Great Mosque in Ma’ar Setat Al Khan town in northern Aleppo suburbs that is under the control of armed opposition.” It put the death toll at 12 civilians including two children and two women, adding that almost 12 others were injured.

Orient TV interviewed a survivor who placed the death toll as high as 22: “We don’t understand why we are being targeted; the front line is over there, why are we civilians being targeted? Not a single military person is here, yet more than 5 women and 7 or 8 children and 10 men waiting to collect bread were killed.”