Dozens Dead In What UNICEF Calls One Of The Worst School Bombings In Syria's War

[rug]

Smoke rises in the distance after an airstrike Wednesday on the village of Hass, Syria, where teachers and students were killed. AP

October 27, 201612:13 PM ET
MERRIT KENNEDY

Warplanes repeatedly bombed a complex of three schools in northern Syria on Wednesday in what UNICEF is calling one of the deadliest attacks on schools since the conflict began more than five years ago.

"This is a tragedy. It is an outrage. And if deliberate, it is a war crime," said UNICEF Director Anthony Lake. "Children lost forever to their families ... teachers lost forever to their students ... one more scar on Syria's future."

UNICEF said the airstrikes in the village of Hass in the rebel stronghold of Idlib killed 22 children and six teachers. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll was higher — 35 people — but included fewer children, at 11.

Activist Marwan Hamid, who lives near the scene of the attack, told NPR's Alison Meuse that "four teachers lost their lives; so did the school custodian. First-responders and neighboring residents were killed in successive strikes. But most of the victims were children."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/27/499578650/dozens-dead-in-what-unicef-calls-one-of-the-worst-school-bombings-in-syrias-war