Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Piles of rubble were left in the aftermath of the strike in al-Jineh

The US military has denied reports that it bombed a mosque in north-western Syria during evening prayers.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 46 people, mostly civilians, died in an air strike on what it said was a mosque.

The US military said it had carried out an air strike, killing several al-Qaeda militants, but did not hit a mosque.

It said it was looking into reports of civilian casualties.

"We did not target, nor did we strike a mosque," Major Josh Jacques, a spokesman for US Central Command (Centcom) told the BBC.

Image copyright Pentagon Image caption The Pentagon insists that it did not target the mosque (at the left edge of this photo) and that extensive surveillance was carried out prior to the strike in order to minimise civilian casualties

Image copyright Reuters Image caption There were conflicting reports about whether a mosque had been hit

"We targeted an al-Qaeda gathering across the street from a mosque. The mosque does not appear to be damaged following the strike. We are aware of the reports of civilian casualties and we are looking into it," he said.

In an earlier statement to AFP news agency, he said the meeting site the US targeted was about 50ft (15m) from the mosque.

A correspondent for the agency described watching rescue workers dig people out of the rubble late on Thursday.

Image copyright AFP Image caption A sign at the site of the air strike identifies it as a mosque and Islamic law school

Image copyright AFP Image caption Images from the scene showed damage to what appears to be a prayer hall

A building with a dome and loudspeaker can be seen largely intact close to the rubble in pictures of the scene. In another picture, a black placard naming a mosque and Islamic law school leans against a damaged building.

The UK-based observatory, which relays information from sources on the ground, said the al-Jineh mosque had been packed with worshippers for evening prayers.

The US military originally said the strike had taken place in neighbouring Idlib province, but later said it was in Aleppo province.

The village lies in one of the main rebel-held regions of Syria. Russian and Syrian aircraft operate in the area and US warplanes also target jihadist rebels in the region.

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The attack on Thursday came only a day after at least 31 people were killed in a suicide bombing at the main court complex in the capital, Damascus.

The Damascus bombing was on the sixth anniversary of the start of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Since then, more than 320,000 people have been killed and 11 million displaced in the conflict, according to activists.</s>Warplanes struck a mosque in the rebel-held village of al-Jina, in northwest Syria, killing at least 42 people and wounding dozens, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Thursday.

The jets struck the village, southwest of Atarib near Aleppo, as the mosque was full of worshippers at evening prayer, said the Observatory, which monitors the Syrian war via a network of contacts across the country.

The US military said it carried out an air strike on Thursday against al-Qaeda militants, killing several, at a meeting location in Idlib province, but it was unclear if it was referring to the attack on Al-Jina.

The statement from US Central Command made no mention of civilian casualties.</s>Warplanes struck a mosque in the rebel-held village of Al-Jina, southwest of Atarib near Aleppo in Syria, killing at least 42 people and wounding dozens, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Thursday.

“The raids by unidentified warplanes targeted a mosque in Aleppo province during evening prayers, killing 42 people, most of them civilians,” said the head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman.

“More than 100 people were wounded,” he said, adding that many were still trapped under the collapsed mosque in the village of Al-Jineh, just over 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Aleppo.

Rescue workers struggled to pull survivors from rubble, and dozens of residents were still unaccounted for, the Observatory said.

The jets struck the mosque on Thursday when it was full of worshippers at evening prayers, said the Observatory, which monitors the Syrian war via a network of contacts across the country.

Footage published by Halab Today, an online media group focused on news in Aleppo, showed piles of rubble where the mosque stood.

The village is located in one of the main rebel-held parts of Syria, the northwest region that includes Idlib province and the western parts of Aleppo province, and its population has been swollen by refugees, UN agencies said.

The Syrian and Russian military have carried out many air strikes in Idlib and Aleppo provinces during the war. The US has also carried out strikes there in recent months, targeting a militant rebel group that until last year was a formal affiliate of al-Qaeda.

Some activists allege that the US carried out the strike, but no country has officially taken credit for it at this point.

Rebels in northwest Syria fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad also include groups supported by Turkey, the US and Gulf monarchies.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began six years ago with anti-government protests.</s>Forty-two people have been killed and many more injured in an airstrike on a mosque in a rebel-held village of northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for human rights has said.

The attack on Thursday is said to have taken place in al-Jina, near the province of Idlib in western Aleppo, a day after the sixth anniversary of the start of the country's civil war.

The area is home to hundreds of thousands of Syrians displaced by fighting.

American officials said US forces carried out an airstrike in Idlib on Thursday "killing several terrorists", but made no mention of civilian casualties.

"Idlib has been a significant safe haven for al Qaeda in recent years," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Civil Defence, volunteer paramedics known as the White Helmets, said three civilians were killed in an early morning airstrike on the village of Sheikh Ali in the Aleppo countryside.

The airstrike also came a day after suicide attacks in the capital, Damascus, killed at least 30 people.</s>At least 42 people were killed and dozens injured on Thursday after United States fighter jets struck a mosque in a village near Aleppo in Syria. The United States admitted to carrying out the airstrike in Northern Syria, but said that the attack was targeted at al-Qaeda members, Al Jazeera reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian war, said many people were still trapped under the debris and the number of casualties might increase. The mosque, located in al-Jina, had around 300 people inside at the time of the attack.

The US Central Command earlier on Friday had said that an airstrike had been carried out by its forces in Idlib on Thursday killing several al-Qaeda members. “Idlib has been a significant safe haven for Al Qaeda in recent years,” the Central Command’s statement said.</s>New evidence is emerging on yesterday‘s bombing of a mosque in the Northwest Syrian village of al-Jineh, in the Aleppo Province, with reports of rising death tolls and recovered pieces of the bomb showing that it was, in fact, a US airstrike.

The Pentagon had initially denied that they had attacked the mosque, but did claim that they attacked an “al-Qaeda meeting” right across the street from it. They even went so far as to speculate that someone else might’ve just happened to bomb the mosque around the same time.

The recovery of US bomb fragments from the mosque, however, changed this narrative, with CENTCOM now promising an investigation into the attack on the mosque. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 42, mostly civilians, yesterday, but the mosque had over 300 people inside at the time of the attack, and some are reporting the toll has risen to around 75 civilians.

On the border between Aleppo and Idlib Provinces, al-Jineh is in rebel-held territory, and the Pentagon’s claims regarding the strike suggest they believe the village is held by al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, or at least used by them as a meeting place.

It wouldn’t be particularly unusual for Nusra to use a mosque as a meeting place, though in this case it appears they did not do so, and simply happened to be nearby. Given the small size of al-Jineh, most of the buildings of any size are likely at least relatively close to the mosque.
• Syrian Forces Continue to Regain Control of Villages Around Aleppo - March 16th, 2017
• US Expects More Missile, Nuclear Testing by North Korea - March 16th, 2017</s>The United States government is denying reports that its warplanes bombed a mosque in Syria in which dozens of people - most of whom are said to be innocent civilians - were killed.

Warplanes struck a mosque in the rebel-held village of al-Jinnah, in northwest Syria, killing at least 42 people and wounding dozens, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Thursday.

The jets struck the village, southwest of Atarib near Aleppo, as the mosque was full of worshippers at evening prayer, said the Observatory, which monitors the Syrian war via a network of contacts across the country.

The Observatory does not know who carried out the airstrike.

The US military said it carried out an air strike on Thursday against al Qaeda militants, killing several, at a meeting location in Idlib province, but it was unclear if it was referring to the attack on Al-Jinnah.

The statement from US Central Command made no mention of civilian casualties.

US government officials told NBC News that it was looking into the reports of a bombed mosque.

The US says that it has photographic evidence that proves its planes did not strike the mosque, which is located about 50 feet from its target.

The US military said it carried out an air strike on Thursday against al Qaeda militants, killing several, at a meeting location in Idlib province, but it was unclear if it was referring to the attack on al-Jinnah (seen above on a map)

Syrian and Russian military have also carried out many air strikes in Idlib and Aleppo provinces during the war.

Al-Jinnah is located in one of the main rebel-held parts of Syria, the northwest that includes Idlib province and the western parts of Aleppo province, and its population has been swollen by refugees, UN agencies have said.

Rebels in northwest Syria fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad also include groups supported by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.</s>An airstrike from an as-yet-unidentified aircraft targeted a mosque in the village of al-Jineh, in the westernmost part of northern Syria’s Aleppo Province, killing at least 42 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The slain were mostly civilians.

The village, in Atarib District, is rebel held, but that doesn’t necessarily narrow it down all that much as to who was attacking. Syrian and Russian warplanes commonly operate in the area around Jineh, targeting rebels, and US warplanes have also carried out airstrikes nearby against al-Qaeda targets recently.

In smaller villages, it’s not unusual for rebels, particularly Islamist rebels, to organize out of the local mosque, and it’s not unusual for any of the nations mentioned to bomb mosques as a result, despite such attacks commonly having a significant civilian component to them.

ISIS had at one point held the area around al-Jineh as part of its push into the northwestern part of Aleppo, but appears to have been expelled. It is not wholly clearly from public reports at this point which rebels, or coalition of rebels, are there now.
• Navy SEALs 'Startled' by How Combat-Ready Yemeni al-Qaeda Is - March 16th, 2017
• Iraq, US Differ on Progress Made in West Mosul Invasion - March 16th, 2017</s>Warplanes struck a mosque in the rebel-held village of al-Jina, southwest of Atarib near Aleppo in Syria, killing at least 42 people and wounding dozens, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said on Thursday.

The jets struck as the mosque was full of worshippers at evening prayer, said the Observatory, which monitors the Syrian war via a network of contacts across the country.

The village is located in one of the main rebel-held parts of Syria, the northwest that includes Idlib province and the western parts of Aleppo province, and its population has been swollen by refugees, UN agencies have said.

The Syrian and Russian military have carried out many air strikes in Idlib and Aleppo provinces during the war. The United States has also carried out strikes there in recent months, targeting a jihadist rebel group that until last year was a formal affiliate of al Qaeda.

Rebels in northwest Syria fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad also include groups supported by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.</s>At least 42 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Thursday in airstrikes on a village mosque in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“The raids by unidentified warplanes targeted a mosque in Aleppo province during evening prayers, killing 42 people, most of them civilians,” said the head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman.

“More than 100 people were wounded,” he said, adding that many were still trapped under the collapsed mosque in the village of Al-Jineh, just over 30km west of Aleppo.

The village is held by rebel and Islamist groups, but no jihadist factions are present.



There were reports the US had carried out the airstrike, which hit the mosque but there was no confirmation from either the Pentagon or Centcom.

Instead Centcom sent out a press release saying the US had carried out a strike on al-Qaida targets in Idlib province in which “several terrorists” were killed. Despite repeated requests for clarification by the Guardian, none was forthcoming.

At the site of the mosque attack, rescue workers struggled to pull survivors from rubble, and dozens of residents were still unaccounted for, the observatory said.

Abu Muhammed, a village resident, told Agence France-Presse he “heard powerful explosions when the mosque was hit. It was right after the prayer at a time where there is usually religious lessons for men in it”.

“I saw 15 bodies and lots of body parts in the debris when I arrived. We couldn’t even recognise some of the bodies,” he added.

An AFP reporter at the scene said rescuers earlier left the wreckage site but returned when they heard moaning coming from the debris.

Footage published by Halab Today, an online media group focused on news in Aleppo, showed piles of rubble where the mosque allegedly stood.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began six years ago with anti-government protests.

A cessation of hostilities was brokered by rebel backer Turkey and regime ally Russia in December, but violence has continued across much of the country.

The observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, said it determined whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used. But the skies over Aleppo province are busy, with Syrian regime and Russian warplanes as well as US-led coalition aircraft carrying out strikes.

Russia began a military intervention in Syria in September 2015, and in the past has dismissed allegations of civilian deaths in its strikes.

The US-led coalition, meanwhile, has been bombing jihadist groups in Syria since 2014.

The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State said this month that its raids in Iraq and Syria had unintentionally killed at least 220 civilians since 2014. Critics say the real number is much higher.
An unknown perpetrator carries out an airstrike on a mosque in the rebel-held village of al-Jineh near Aleppo, killing at least 42 people.