UPDATE - Scores of civilians killed by US-led airstrikes in N. Syria

*UPDATES WITH HIGHER DEATH TOLL

By Halit Suleyman

ALEPPO, Syria (AA) – At least 160 civilians were killed on Tuesday in airstrikes carried out by U.S.-led coalition warplanes in northern Syria’s Daesh-held town of Manbij, according to local sources.

The airstrikes targeted a group of civilians trying to flee clashes in Manbij’s village of Tukhar, one local source told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity due to fears for their safety.

"Entire families were killed in the attack," the source said, adding that the airstrikes had also left at least 100 people injured.

In June, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, backed by U.S.-led coalition airpower, launched an offensive to retake Manbij from the Daesh terrorist group.

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 UN figures.

However, the Syrian Center for Policy Research, an NGO, has put the death toll from the five-year conflict at more than 470,000.