US-led airstrikes target militants in ISIS stronghold

US-led coalition aircraft have carried out a series of air strikes in Syria, targeting the Islamic State’s main stronghold of Raqqa.

At least 16 air strikes were reported late on Saturday and early on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 23 ISIS members were killed in the attack.

The London-based monitoring group also said a US drone strike on a Raqqa school on Saturday killed six civilians, including a child.

The US military described the 16 strikes as one of the largest assaults carried out in Syria so far. The US-led coalition often targets Isis-held towns and cities in Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were unusual in their intensity.

A US military spokesman said the air strikes had destroyed Isis-controlled structures and transit routes. “The significant air strikes tonight were executed to deny Daesh [IS] the ability to move military capabilities throughout Syria and into Iraq,” said Lt Col Thomas Gilleran, using the Arabic acronym for Isis.

“This was one of the largest deliberate engagements we have conducted to date in Syria, and it will have debilitating effects on Daesh’s ability to move” from Raqqa, he said.

Raqqa is the de facto capital of the Iraqi and Syrian territory Isis declared an Islamic caliphate declared a year ago.

An Isis-affiliated website confirmed the strikes on the centre of the city, saying 10 people had been killed and dozens wounded. It also published photographs purportedly showing victims, including two of young boys, and suggested they were civilians.

A Raqqa-based anti-Isis network said eight civilians including a 10-year-old child had been killed. The report could not be independently confirmed.

The network, called Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, said at least one air strike targeted a group of Isis members in the city centre. Another targeted a checkpoint and a third destroyed large parts of a brick factory.

Meanwhile, in the remote north-eastern city of Hassake, Isis suicide bombers detonated a truck packed with explosives near a main power plant on Sunday. The state-run Sana news agency reported casualties and material damage at the plant on the southern edge of the city.