BEIRUT -- The United States struck an al-Qaida gathering in northern Syria killing dozens of militants, U.S. officials said Friday. They said they found no basis for reports that civilians were killed.
Syrian opposition activists said about 40 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a mosque in the area, accusing the U.S.-led coalition of carrying out the airstrike Thursday evening.
Friday prayers were canceled across rebel-held parts of northern Syria Friday after the airstrike that opposition activists and paramedics said struck the crowded Omar Ibn al-Khattab Mosque in the Jeeneh district in Aleppo province, killing and wounding dozens of people, some of whom were left trapped under the rubble.
U.S. Army Maj. Josh Jacques, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said the U.S. did not target or strike a mosque.
"We targeted an al-Qaida gathering across the street from a mosque. The mosque does not appear to be damaged following the strike," he said.
Later, a Pentagon spokesman, Eric Pahon, said U.S. surveillance of the target area indicated that evening prayers had already concluded before the attack. He said the building that was struck was a "partially constructed community meeting hall" that al-Qaida leaders used to gather and "as a place to educate and indoctrinate al-Qaida fighters."
"Initial assessments based upon post-strike analysis do not indicate civilian casualties," Pahon said. He said the Pentagon would investigate any credible allegations it received.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, another Pentagon spokesman, said officials weren't aware of any such credible assessment. He showed reporters a U.S. military photo of the strike and said dozens of al-Qaida militants who were meeting in the building were targeted and killed. The photo, which the military said was taken less than five minutes after the strike, showed extensive damage to the building. Debris also was scattered toward the mosque, but there was little visible damage to the mosque or two cars parked next to it.
Davis said the U.S. was aware the mosque was next door and deliberately did not strike it. He said some video he has seen showed damage to the building on the other side of the al-Qaida base.
Davis said the U.S. believes there were some high ranking individuals there, but he did not identify them, and said the U.S. is still assessing the results of the strike. He said al-Qaida had been using the building as a meeting place, but he said he did not know if the building had at some point been associated with the mosque next door.
He said manned and unmanned aircraft launched airstrikes at the building, which would include Hellfire missiles and bombs.
A powerful Syrian opposition group and other opposition activists blamed the U.S.-led coalition for the airstrike. The coalition has been targeting the Islamic State extremist group and al-Qaida's affiliate in northern Syria for more than two years, but it was not clear how the opposition group knew who carried out the strike. Russian and Syrian aircraft are known also to operate in the opposition-held region.
Bahaa al-Halaby, an Aleppo-based opposition activist, said the Thursday night airstrike hit as about 250 people had gathered at the mosque for prayers or to attend a religious lesson. Mosques are usually crowded on Thursday night ahead of Friday, the day of communal prayers in the Muslim weekend.
"This was one of the worst massacres committed in the area," al-Halaby said.
An Islamic networking group as Advocacy and Intimation is known to be active at the mosque where religious lessons are offered to the local population, according to al-Halaby and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also described the attack as a massacre.
Jihadi and militant websites said the group, which aims to encourage people to adhere to Islam by peaceful means, was holding a weekly meeting with about 250 people in attendance. The group has branches in other countries.
The Observatory said the airstrike on the mosque in Jeeneh killed 46 while the Local Coordination Committees, another monitoring group, said 40 were killed. Such discrepancies are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Syria.
Information for this article was contributed by Jim Heintz of The Associated Press.
A Section on 03/18/2017