Turkish experts evacuate a victim of a suspected chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian city of Idlib, at a local hospital in Reyhanli, Turkey, Tuesday, April 4, 2017. A suspected chemical attack in a... (Associated Press) 
 
 BEIRUT (AP) — The death toll from a suspected chemical attack on a northern Syrian town rose to 72 on Wednesday while activists and rescue workers kept finding more terrified survivors hiding in shelters near the site of the harrowing assault, one of the deadliest in years in Syria's civil war. 
 
 According to a Syrian opposition group, renewed airstrikes hit the town of Khan Sheikhoun a day after the attack that the Trump administration has blamed on the government of President Bashar Assad, saying that his patrons, Russia and Iran, bore "great moral responsibility" for the deaths. 
 
 The U.N. Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting On Wednesday in response to the strike and in Brussels, officials from 70 nations gathered for a major donors' conference on the future of Syria and the region. 
 
 The attack on Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people on Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals. Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies. Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year conflict. 
 
 Syrian doctors said a combination of toxic gases is suspected to have been released during the airstrikes, causing the high death toll and severe symptoms. 
 
 Pope Francis said Wednesday during his general audience that he was "watching with horror at the latest events in Syria," and said he "strongly deplored the unacceptable massacre." 
 
 Earlier, President Donald Trump denounced the attack as a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilized world." German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called on Russia to endorse a planned Security Council resolution condemning the attack. 
 
 British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said "all the evidence" he had seen so far in the latest chemical weapons attack in Syria "suggests this was the Assad regime ... (that) did it in the full knowledge that they were using illegal weapons in a barbaric attack on their own people." 
 
 Syria's government denied it carried out any chemical attack. But early on Wednesday, Russia, a major ally of the Syrian government, alleged a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel arsenal, releasing the toxic agents. 
 
 The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, said in a statement that Russian military assets registered the strike on a weapons depot and ammunition factory on the town's eastern outskirts. Konashenkov said the factory produced chemical weapons that were used in Iraq. 
 
 Wednesday's renewed airstrikes hit not far from the location of the suspected chemical attack, said Ahmed al-Sheikho, of the Idlib Civil Defense team. He said the strikes did not cause any casualties because the area had been evacuated following Tuesday's attack. 
 
 The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 children and 17 women were among the 72 killed. Abu Hamdu, a senior member of the Syrian Civil Defense in Khan Sheikoun said his group has recorded 70 deaths. 
 
 He said his team of rescuers was still finding survivors, including two women and a boy hiding in an underground shelter beneath their home. ||||| Image copyright AFP 
 
 The UK foreign secretary has called off a visit to Moscow in the wake of the Syrian chemical weapons attack. 
 
 Boris Johnson, who had been due to travel on Monday, said the situation had changed "fundamentally" and his priority was to build international support for a ceasefire. 
 
 He said the UK called on Russia to do everything possible to bring about a "political settlement in Syria". 
 
 "We deplore Russia's continued defence of the Assad regime," he added. 
 
 The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Moscow as planned after the G7 meeting on 10-11 April. 
 
 Mr Johnson said he was in contact with the US and others in the run-up to the meeting, to build "coordinated international support for a ceasefire". 
 
 He said he was working to bring together other "like-minded partners" to "explore next steps". 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Destruction at a hospital in Idlib province, where an attack took place on Tuesday 
 
 After the G7 meeting between the world's leading seven industrialised nations Mr Tillerson would be able to deliver a "clear and co-ordinated message to the Russians", he said. 
 
 The foreign secretary called on Russia to work with the rest of the international community to "ensure the shocking events of the last week are never repeated". 
 
 The Russian Embassy responded to the cancellation of Mr Johnson's visit with a tweet linking to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. 
 
 The embassy in London said: "@BorisJohnson cancelled his visit to Moscow: theatrics for lack of argument? Safer in G7 pack? Listen to our soft power response." 
 
 'Terrorists celebrate' strike 
 
 Eighty-nine people, including 33 children and 18 women, died in a suspected nerve agent attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday. 
 
 The figures come from Idlib's opposition-run health authority. The country's government denies using nerve gas. 
 
 On Friday, the US carried out missile strikes on a Syrian air base it says is suspected of storing chemical weapons. At least six people are reported to have died. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Images released by the Pentagon showed damage caused by the strikes on Shayrat air base 
 
 In response, Syria's ally Russia accused the US of encouraging "terrorists" with unilateral actions. 
 
 Moscow has further promised to strengthen Syria's anti-aircraft defences and it is shutting down a hotline with the US designed to avoid collisions between their air forces over the country. 
 
 Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has said "terrorists are celebrating" the US strikes on a Syrian airbase. 
 
 But he also backed calls for an independent inquiry into Tuesday's suspected chemical weapons attack. 
 
 Mr Johnson's visit, for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, would have been the first visit by a UK foreign secretary in more than five years. 
 
 Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the cancellation meant Mr Johnson had "revealed himself to be a poodle of Washington, having his diary managed from across the pond." 
 
 He added: "It is pretty shameful when even Trump judges you to be a buffoon." 
 
 The government was "quick to blindly follow every order from the Trump White House", he said. 
 
 An aide to Mr Johnson responded that it was "a shame the Lib Dems would rather snipe and be silly when the US and UK are trying to work on a plan to help the innocent people of Syria and stop a devastating civil war". ||||| Story highlights "I don't think it's a coincidence that a few days later we see this," Rubio said. 
 
 Last week in Turkey, Tillerson said, "I think the status and the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people." 
 
 (CNN) Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he doesn't think it's a coincidence that a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria occurred shortly after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad could remain in power. 
 
 "In this case now, we have very limited options and look, it's concerning that the secretary of state, 72 hours ago or a week ago, last Friday, said that the future's up to the people in Syria on what happens with Assad. In essence almost nodding to the idea that Assad was gonna get to stay in some capacity," Rubio said on the show "AM Tampa Bay." 
 
 "I don't think it's a coincidence that a few days later we see this," Rubio concluded. 
 
 Dozens died in an attack on Tuesday that activists said was committed by Assad's regime. The U.S. has also placed blame on Assad for the attack. Last week in Turkey, Tillerson said, "I think the status and the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people." 
 
 Other lawmakers, such as fellow Republican Sen. John McCain, have also rebuked Tillerson and the Trump administration. McCain said on CNN's "New Day" that he was sure that the Assad regime was "encouraged to know that the United States is withdrawing" from the conflict. 
 
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– Scores were killed in Syria's Idlib province on Tuesday in what the New York Times calls "the worst chemical attack in years" in the war-torn country. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is saying it had nothing to do with it, and Syrian ally Russia is also deflecting blame, claiming that an airstrike hit a "terrorist" chemical weapons workshop in Khan Sheikhoun, dispersing the poison, now widely believed to have been a nerve agent like sarin gas. But members of the Trump administration, as well as other US politicians, are now blasting Vladimir Putin for protecting Assad, with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley taking the lead at a UN Security Council gathering Wednesday, the Washington Post reports. "How many more children have to die before Russia cares?" she asked at the special session that was prompted by a request from Britain and France. Some are noting that just last week, Haley said removing Assad from power was no longer a US priority and that the US had to "pick and choose" its battles; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also said last week that Assad's fate was now up to the Syrian people, per Reuters. GOP Sen. Marco Rubio voiced his opinion on the matter Wednesday, noting on an AM Tampa Bay radio program that the timeline between when Tillerson made his remarks and the attack doesn't seem to be an accident. "I don't think it's a coincidence that a few days later we see this," Rubio said, per CNN. And Sen. John McCain noted Tuesday on CNN's New Day he's positive Syria and the Russians "took note of what our secretary of state said," calling the decision to turn away from Syria's civil war "disgraceful."