KABUL: (MEP) At least 60 people have been killed after a Russian airstrike targeted an al-Qaeda run prison in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, a UK-based monitoring group says.
In addition 30 others were wounded in the airstrike.
A jail and a religious court belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front were hit in the town of Maarat al-Numan on Saturday, according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights(SOHR).
The split of casualties appears to be hotly disputed so far, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights initially claiming most of the slain were detainees and five civilians in the surrounding area, but now saying there were 21 civilians and only seven detainees killed.
The al-Nusra Front is one of the many non-Isis jihadist groups operating in Syria which are being targeted by Russian air strikes.
Russia launched its first airstrikes against the ISIS terrorists in Syria on September 30 at the request of the Syrian government.
Syrian forces have cut off foreign-backed militants’ key supply routes by taking control of several villages in the northern areas of Latakia Province.
