Suspected chlorine attack kills at least three in Aleppo, Syria

At least three people died and many suffered breathing difficulties when what is suspected to be chlorine was dropped alongside barrel bombs on a neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Aleppo, according to reports from a hospital and a civil defence group.

Syria Civil Defence, a rescue service operating in rebel-held territory, reported that it recorded three deaths and 22 injuries after a barrel suspected to have contained chlorine fell on the Zubdiya neighbourhood of rebel-held Aleppo.

On the other hand, Hamza Khatib, the manager of Al Quds hospital in Aleppo is reported to have said that the hospital recorded four deaths from gas poisoning and 55 injuries.

Khatib said he was preserving pieces of patients' clothing and fragments from the barrel bombs as evidence for analysis.

Reports of the bombing on the neighbourhood were confirmed by war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, according to the Guardian. The bombing, the Observatory said, led to the death of a woman and her child from suffocation.

Government and opposition forces have both denied using chemical weapons during Syria’s conflict, and are said to be pointing fingers at each other for the use of gas.