The airstrikes struck the village of Hass around midday Wednesday, hitting a residential compound that houses a school complex. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake called the airstrikes an "outrage," adding that if found to be deliberate the attacks would be considered a war crime. "This latest atrocity may be the deadliest attack on a school since the war began," Lake said in a statement. Juliette Touma, regional UNICEF chief of communication, said Wednesday's attack was the deadliest attack on a school in 2016, bring the overall death toll of children killed in such attacks in 2016 to 54. Prior to Wednesday's attack, the deadliest assault on a school was reported in April 2014 when 30 children were killed in airstrikes that hit a school in the rebel-held part of Aleppo city, according to UNICEF.

Source: ABC News October 27, 2016 07:18 UTC