Death toll update | 21 people, mostly civilians, killed in Afrin massacre
Aleppo province: Death toll of the massacre committed in Afrin is increasing further, as SOHR activists have documented more fatalities as well as the death of injured people affected by their injuries. SOHR activists have documented the death of 21 people so far, and the fatalities were distributed as follows:
- 17 civilians, including a female and her baby, three female medics, a doctor, another woman and a little girl.
- A commander of Suleiman Shah faction.
- Two members of Suleiman Shah faction.
- A police officer.
These people were killed in a massacre committed by regime forces stationed in al-Ziyyarah and Ibbin in the north-western countryside of Aleppo, which targeted several positions in Afrin city. Most of deaths were in al-Sheffa hospital in Afrin city, which was targeted directly. The death toll is expected to rise further as the attack left over 23 persons injured, some seriously, including women and children. It is worth noting that there were four officials of SAMS and Shafaq organizations among the total death toll.
Reliable sources in Afrin have also told SOHR that the civil and military police have been deployed in the hospital and surrounding areas, preventing media activists from the city from covering the attack, and they expelled everyone holding cameras. However, some pictures and video clips have been taken with mobile phones by civilians living in areas near the targeted site or by people who were near the hospital when the attack occurred.
It is worth noting that yesterday’s massacre has left the largest death toll everin the past 14 months, as SOHR had documented, on April 28, 2020, the death of 52 people, including 11 children under the age of 18, and 12 fighters of the factions in the “Black Tuesday” massacre, when a truck carrying fuel exploded tens of metres away from the headquarters of the governor on Raju street in Afrin city. That massacre left at that time over 50 people who sustained various burns.