12 people reported dead after aid convoy attacked near Aleppo

A monitoring group says a convoy of aid trucks was hit by an airstrike near Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, killing 12 people, including aid workers and truck drivers.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blamed the strike, near the town of Urm al-Kubra, on either Syrian or Russian war planes; the Syrian government has not commented. A United Nations spokesman told the BBC there were 31 trucks in the convoy, and 18 were hit, but he could not confirm that it was an airstrike. Aid deliveries to areas in need were a key piece of a deal brokered last week by the U.S. and Russia, and both the rebels and Syrian military have accused each other of violating the terms of the truce. In a statement to Reuters, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the convoy was "the outcome of a long process of permission and preparations to assist isolated civilians," and the attack was an "outrage."

A witness told Reuters five missiles hit the trucks, and an adviser to de Mistura said the convoy was "bombarded" while unloading supplies at warehouses. In the Urm al-Kubra region alone, nearly 78,000 people need aid.

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