Airstrikes on IS-held Syrian city kill at least 39

BEIRUT – Airstrikes on the northern Syrian city of Raqqa on Saturday killed at least 39 people and wounded many others in an intensified bombardment of the Islamic State group’s de facto capital.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 39 people were killed, including five children and seven women, when the air raids hit several areas in the city, which has been held by the extremists since 2013.

The anti-Islamic State activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said the airstrikes were by Russian warplanes, adding they have killed 43 civilians and wounded about 50 others.

A third opposition monitoring group, the Local Coordination Committees, said the air raids were carried out by Syrian government warplanes, adding dozens were killed or wounded.

The three groups said the air raids struck near the national hospital, a former army base and other neighborhoods.