A UK-based monitoring group has come down heavily on the United States, claiming that 131 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the US-led coalition airstrikes in Syria during the last eight months.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a human rights agency that consistently monitors the situation in the country, claimed that since the US started targeting Islamic State (Isis) locations in Syria, an estimated 131 civilians, including 42 children and 25 women, were killed.
According to the SOHR report, 2,440 people -- mostly Isis terrorists -- have been killed so far since the beginning of the US-led coalition airstrikes on Syria in September, 2014.
In one instance, the SOHR report noted that on 1 May about 62 civilians, including 16 girls and 15 boys, were "massacred" by the US-led coalition forces in Bir Mihli village located near the town of Serrin in Ayn al- Arab city, popularly known as Kobani.
Condemning the 'killing' of civilians, SOHR promised to take the United States before the International Criminal Court. It also urged its patrons to independently file an appeal and urge the US-led coalition to differentiate civilian targets from military.
Back in January, the US Department of Defence had for the first time accepted that there were civilian casualties in Syria and Iraq. The DoD had then promised that it will initiate an investigation to verify the 'credibility of the allegations that the airstrikes by the US-led coalition, targeting the Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq and Syria, has killed several civilians.
Pentagon was forced into action after multiple reports claimed that at least 33,000 civilians were killed in 2014 after getting caught between the US-led coalition airstrikes and the Islamic State.
