US military: No indication civilians killed in Syria strike

The US military denied Monday reports that civilians were killed in US-led coalition airstrikes last week on a village controlled by the Islamic State group in northern Syria, ABC news reported.

Meanwhile the rights group which first reported the civilian casualties said the death toll has risen to 64, including at least 31 children.

It was not immediately possible to independently verify the conflicting reports in the village.

Two videos and several photos purporting to show the aftermath of the strikes on the remote mixed Arab and Kurdish village were mostly produced by the Islamic State group's media arms.

The strikes happened overnight Thursday on the Syrian village of Bir Mahli, near the border city of Kobani, the Britain-based based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said that the death toll rose to 64 Sunday after missing persons were found dead.

He said the airstrikes hit civilians, all of them Arabs, in their homes.

Abdurrahman said the dead include 16 girls and 15 boys, as well as 19 women. The Observatory relies on a network of activists on the ground.

The US-led coalition confirmed there were airstrikes at the same time near Kobani, adding that it destroyed seven Islamic State group positions and one of the group's vehicles and hit 50 fighters.