BEIRUT Dawn air strikes on a Syrian border town in the Islamic State-held eastern province of Deir al-Zor killed 23 people, most of them civilians, a war monitoring group said on Monday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said jets thought to belong to the U.S.-led coalition hit the town of Al-Bukamal near the border with Iraq. The warplanes struck near a residential area and a mosque, wounding dozens more, the Britain-based monitor said.
The Islamic State-linked media outlet Amaq said coalition strikes killed 15 people and wounded 35 others in Al-Bukamal.
A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State could not immediately be reached for comment.
Islamic State holds most of Deir al-Zor province, apart from an enclave at the center and a nearby air base that Syrian government forces control. The province links territory Islamic State militants control in Syria and Iraq.
The United States military has said it makes “extraordinary efforts” to avoid civilian deaths in its air strikes in Syria and Iraq.
(Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
