Syria air strike: At least 42 civilians killed by US-led bomb attack in Raqqa
US-led coalition air strikes on Raqqa killed at least 42 civilians after targeting densely-populated neighbourhoods of the Isis-controlled Syrian city, a monitoring group has said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included 19 children and 12 women.
The activist-run group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently said 32 people were killed in air strikes on one neighbourhood alone.
Syrian state media said the air strikes killed dozens.
They all blamed the US-led coalition.
The Independent has contacted the US Central Command (CENTCOM) for comment.
Brett McGurk, the US special envoy to the coalition against Isis, said around 2,000 Isis fighters remained in Raqqa and as much as 60 per cent of the city had been retaken.
An estimated 25,000 civilians remain in the city and are at risk of being used as human shields by Isis.
The jihadi group is now falling back deeper into the Euphrates valley region of eastern Syria.
US officials said Isis had 40,000 foreign fighters from 110 countries across Syria and Iraq in 2014, but since then they are believed to have lost 70,000 square kilometers of territory – 78 per cent of the territory they used to hold in Iraq, and 58 per cent of the territory they used to hold in Syria.