Izzettin Kasim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
- The attack Wednesday morning killed at least 13 people, The Wall Street Journal reported.
- Four of the dead were children on their way to school. Their teacher was also killed.
- The strike occurred in a marketplace in northwest Syria that is controlled by anti-government rebels.
Four children and their teacher where killed in a rocket attack by government forces in Syria on Wednesday, according to the United Nations' children's agency.
"Today's violence is yet another reminder that the war in Syria has not come to an end," Ted Chaban, UNICEF's regional directory for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement. He said the attack – on a marketplace in the opposition-held province of Idlib – may constitute a war crime.
"Children should be able to reach their schools safely," Chaban said.
A total of 13 people were killed in Ariha, a town in the northwest part of the country about an hour from the border with Turkey, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 people were also injured in what they called a "massacre," some seriously.
The strike took place hours after a bus carrying Syrian soldiers in the capital of Damascus blew up, killing 14 people, the Associated Press reported. Syrian state media attributed the explosion to two bombs that had been placed on the vehicle.
At least 350,000 people have been confirmed killed since the start of the war in Syria, according to the United Nations. Independent observers say the real number may be over 600,000, the vast majority killed by Syrian government forces that were called on by the regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad to crush pro-democracy protests that broke out in 2011.
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