Strike on Syrian mosque a war crime, Turkey says

By Zafer Cakmak

CANAKKALE, Turkey (AA) - Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus on Friday condemned the bombing of a mosque in northern Syria as a “war crime”.

An airstrike on a mosque in the village of Al-Jina, located west of Aleppo city towards the border with Idlib province, killed 58 people on Thursday night.

“This is a crime against humanity, this is a war crime,” Kurtulmus told reporters in the northwestern province of Canakkale. “Bombing civilians, people in the mosque, and a house of worship is unacceptable.”

It remained unclear who was responsible for the airstrike. Syrian and Russian warplanes operate in the area and the U.S. military said it carried out an air attack on al-Qaeda-linked militants on Thursday in Idlib but denied hitting a mosque.

“In the coming hours, it will come out who has conducted this attack,” Kurtulmus said.

The airstrike came a day after suicide attacks in the capital Damascus killed at least 30 people on the sixth anniversary of the start of the conflict.