ISTANBUL
At least 853 people have died in a series of barrel bomb attacks by the Syrian regime forces in the last two weeks, according to a UK-based Syrian human rights group.
Only six people were armed; the rest were civilians, including 221 children and 119 women.
Forces loyal to the embattled President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, used at least 508 barrel bombs between January 28 and February 14, targeting Aleppo along with its rural areas and injuring 3,260 people, the Syria Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said in a report.
An average of 90 people are killed each day in the attacks.
The actual death toll is feared to be far more, as most of the casualties are still buried under the wreckage and have not yet been pulled out, the SNHR says.
Over 100,000 people have been killed, 3.5 million internally displaced and 2.5 million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries since the conflict erupted in March, 2011, between the Syrian government and opposition groups, the UN said.
A second round of Geneva II peace talks, attended by members of the Syrian government and the opposition, took place from Feb.10 to Feb. 15. and ended without tangible results.
UN and Arab League Special Envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said in an earlier press conference that no date has been set for the third round of peace talks because both sides could not agree on the agenda.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
