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Air strike on IS prison in Syria ‘kills dozens’

PHOTO: US AIR FORCE/SRA JORDAN CASTELAN

 

Almost 60 people have been killed in a suspected US-led coalition air strike on a prison run by so-called Islamic State in eastern Syria, activists say, the BBC reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 prisoners and 15 militants died when the facility near Mayadin, in Deir al-Zour province, was hit on Monday.

The BBC quotes Deirezzor24 news website as saying that dozens of civilians and Syrian rebel fighters were detained there.

A coalition spokesman said it was looking into the casualty reports.

Mayadeen, which lies in the Euphrates river valley about 45km south-east of the city of Deir al-Zour, has been targeted frequently by coalition aircraft.

US intelligence officials believe IS moved most of its leaders to the town in recent months as Iraqi government forces advanced into the Iraqi city of Mosul and a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters encircled the Syrian city of Raqqa.

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