A U.S.-led coalition air strike killed 20 civilians, including two children, overnight in a village near the Islamic State (IS)’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, a monitor said on Wednesday.
The coalition confirmed that it had carried out strikes, but said it was investigating whether they killed civilians.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of people were also wounded in the strikes on Tuesday night on the village of Al-Heisha, 40 km north of Raqqa. It said the latest deaths brought the number of civilians killed since U.S.-led air strikes in Syria began in September 2014 to 680, including 169 children.
Al-Heisha is controlled by the IS and has been a target in a new assault by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as they push to capture Raqqa. Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the coalition, said that an “initial assessment” confirmed there had been strikes in the area.
