SULAYMANIYAH (Sputnik) — Nearly 120 people have been killed since February in the Sheikh Maqsood district of the Syrian city of Aleppo, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan media center (PUKmedia) said Wednesday.
"Since the start of the attacks and shelling on February 16 and until today, the total number of those killed comes to 117 people, 38 of them children. Furthermore, 777 civilians have received injuries of various degrees of severity, most of these women and children," PUKmedia told RIA Novosti.
Sheikh Maqsood a Kurdish district of Aleppo, which is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, has come under increasing attack from Islamist militants present in and around the city. The Nusra Front, Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaish al-Islam have been shelling the district with conventional armaments as well as chemical weapons.
"Some 2,400 houses and buildings have been destroyed as a result of shelling…The last shelling of Sheikh Maqsood took place on May 28 and claimed the lives of five civilians, three of them children," PUKmedia said.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.
A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. The ceasefire does not apply to terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, both of which are outlawed in many countries, including Russia.
