Regime ‘vacuum bomb’ kills 8 civilians in Syria’s Homs

By Mohammed Misto

HOMS, Syria (AA) - At least eight civilians were killed by regime airstrikes on a Turkmen village in central Syria on Sunday, according to local sources.

Regime warplanes dropped fuel-air weapons, also known as “vacuum bombs”, on the village of Burj Qa’i, northwest of Homs province, the sources told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to security concerns.

“Eight civilians were killed and more than seven others injured in the attack,” the sources said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.