Air strikes by Russian warplanes on the Syrian city of Raqqa killed 42 people earlier this week, including 27 civilians, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

Fifteen ISIS fighters made up the remainder of the death toll, the Britain-based Observatory said, after a series of strikes on Tuesday that hit the group’s Syrian stronghold.

The bombings add to a civilian death toll from Russian strikes, which the Syrian Network for Human Rights, another monitoring group, said on Monday stood at 254 people killed in just over a month.

On Thursday, Russia’s air force said it carried out strikes near ISIS-held ancient city of Palmyra for the second time this week, claiming its targets were far from Syria’s historic sites.
Reuters and AFP, Moscow Friday, 6 November 2015