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Rights group: Syrian government helicopters drop bombs, kill 72

By Amy R. Connolly

ALEPPO, Syria, May 30 (UPI) -- At least 72 people, mostly civilians, were killed Saturday after Syrian government helicopters dropped crude barrel bombs on the northern province of Aleppo, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The organization, which gathers information through a network of Syrian activists, reported government bombs, made from oil drums and packed with explosives, were dropped from military helicopters on the city of Aleppo and a market in the town of al-Bab, which is being held by the Islamic State. The human rights group called it one of the worst massacres from the government this year.

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The Syrian government has made no public comment, but President Bashar al-Assad has denied the airstrikes and use of the bombs in the past. In an interview with the BBC in February, he dismissed the allegations of the bombs as a "childish story," saying: "There are no barrel bombs. We don't have barrels."

Some 220,000 people have been killed across Syria since the start of the uprising against Bashar in 2011, the United Nations estimates.

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