Regime shells nursery school in Syria, 8 children die

By Halit Suleyman and Ayse Aktas

DAMASCUS, Syria

At least eight children were killed and 15 others injured when regime forces shelled a nursery in opposition-held Harasta city, a northeastern suburb of the capital Damascus, a local civil defense official told Anadolu Agency.

The Syrian regime targeted Bunel al-Mustakbel nursery, Muhammad Adem said, adding the artillery fire began when the children were playing in the playground.

The injured children were rushed to nearby hospitals, Adem added.

Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes also struck the Hammuriyah neighborhood in Damascus, Adem said; number of casualties there was not known yet.

Another civil defense official in northwestern Aleppo province said Russian warplanes hit residential areas of Urum neighborhood.

Three civilians were killed and dozens others were injured, Necip Ensari said.

Civil defense teams rescued a number of people under the rubble of collapsed buildings, he added.

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.