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The death toll from a suspected chemical attack on a northern Syrian town has risen to at least 70, the World Health Organisation says.
Key points:
- A combination of toxic gases is suspected to have been released during the initial airstrikes
- US President Donald Trump has directly accused Bashar al-Assad of orchestrating the chemical attack
- Five more airstrikes are reported to have hit Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday
Activists and rescue workers continue to find more terrified survivors hiding in shelters near the site of the harrowing assault amidst reported fresh airstrikes.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights five airstrikes hit the town of Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday, a day after the attack that the Trump administration has blamed on the government of President Bashar Assad, saying that his patrons, Russia and Iran, bore "great moral responsibility" for the deaths.
The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported air strikes in Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province.
The UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting in response to the strike and in Brussels, officials from 70 nations gathered for a major donors' conference on the future of Syria and the region.
The attack on Khan Sheikhoun killed dozens of people on Tuesday, leaving residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals.
Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies.
Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year conflict.
Syrian doctors said a combination of toxic gases is suspected to have been released during the airstrikes, causing the high death toll and severe symptoms.
Victims appeared to show symptoms consistent with reaction to a nerve agent, the World Health Organisation said.
"Some cases appear to show additional signs consistent with exposure to organophosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents," WHO said in a statement, putting the death toll at at least 70.
"The likelihood of exposure to a chemical attack is amplified by an apparent lack of external injuries reported in cases showing a rapid onset of similar symptoms, including acute respiratory distress as the main cause of death," it said.
The United States has said the deaths were caused by sarin nerve gas dropped by Syrian aircraft.
Pope Francis, US President Trump condemn attacks
Pope Francis said Wednesday during his general audience that he was "watching with horror at the latest events in Syria," and said he "strongly deplored the unacceptable massacre."
Earlier, President Donald Trump denounced the attack as a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilised world" while holding Mr Assad directly responsible.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called on Russia to endorse a planned Security Council resolution condemning the attack.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said "all the evidence" he had seen so far in the latest chemical weapons attack in Syria "suggests this was the Assad regime ... (that) did it in the full knowledge that they were using illegal weapons in a barbaric attack on their own people."
Syria's government denied it carried out any chemical attack. But early on Wednesday, Russia, a major ally of the Syrian government, alleged a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel arsenal, releasing the toxic agents.
"Yesterday, from 11:30 am to 12:30 p.m. local time, Syrian aviation made a strike on a large terrorist ammunition depot and a concentration of military hardware in the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun town," Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konoshenkov said in a statement posted on YouTube.
Konashenkov said the factory produced chemical weapons that were used in Iraq.
Hasan Haj Ali, commander of the Free Idlib Army rebel group, said no rebel military positions were targeted in the area and called the Russian statement "a lie".
"Everyone saw the plane while it was bombing with gas," he said.
"Likewise, all the civilians in the area know that there are no military positions there, or places for the manufacture [of weapons]. The various factions of the opposition are not capable of producing these substances," he said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 20 children and 17 women were among the 72 killed.
AP/Reuters
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, syrian-arab-republic
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