Civilian death toll on rise in Daesh-held Raqqa: Group
Coalition airstrikes, SDF attacks have killed scores of civilian residents within past 48 hours, says activist group
Ankara
By Halit Suleiman
RAQQA, Syria
An activist group that monitors civilian casualties in the Daesh-held Syrian city of Raqqa said Monday that 70 civilians had been killed within the past 48 hours owing to attacks by a U.S.-led air coalition and the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Speaking on Twitter with the hashtag (in Arabic) "Raqqa is being slaughtered silently", the group also asserted that two faculty buildings at Euphrates University -- located in Syria’s Daesh-held Deir ez-Zor province -- had been “completely destroyed” by coalition airstrikes on Saturday.
Last Friday, the U.S.-backed SDF, which contains numerous elements linked to the terrorist PKK/PYD group, called on Daesh militants in Raqqa to surrender by the end of the current month.
Since then, air and artillery attacks on the city -- by the U.S.-led coalition and the SDF respectively -- have intensified, resulting in scores of civilian casualties.
*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara
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