Civilians killed in air strike on rebel-held Syrian town

An air strike on a market in a rebel-held town in northern Syria has killed at least 21 people, activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were three strikes on a market in Atareb in the opposition-held countryside outside Aleppo on Monday.

Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, is controlled by the government.

Atareb has been subject to Russian and Syrian government air strikes since 2015.

It has become home to tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting in nearby areas.

Images from the town published by the activist-run Thiqa news agency showed rescuers and civilians pulling out victims and limbs from mounds of rubble stretching several storefronts long.

The agency said at least 43 people were killed and 70 wounded.

The Observatory said 21 civilians were killed, among them five children and three women.

It said many more were severely wounded.

Atareb and the opposition-held countryside in north-west Syria is supposed to be protected by a “de-escalation agreement” brokered in May by Russia, Iran, and Turkey.

The agreement is regularly violated.

At least 400,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced in Syria’s six-year civil war.