Air raids near Syrian capital kill at least 80

The death toll was likely to rise, as many of the 200 people wounded were in serious condition after the airstrikes that left at least 80 people dead on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"The regime carried out four airstrikes against a market in the center of Douma," said Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based group. "The preliminary information suggests most of the dead are civilians," he added.

The airstrikes on Douma came as UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien made his first trip to Syria since taking this top aid post in May.

Regular target of government airstrikes

According to activists, the attack on the busy market in the rebel-held town Douma was one of the deadliest single incidents involving government airstrikes since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Douma is located in the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta, a region outside the capital Damascus that is a regular target of government airstrikes. Earlier this week, Amnesty International accused the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad of war crimes in Eastern Ghouta. Rebels also regularly fire on the capital from this region, attacks that Amnesty also described as war crimes because of their indiscriminate nature.

Syria's civil war killed more than 250,000 people, according to the United Nations. Various attempts at peace talks failed.

das/sgb (AP, AFP)