Human rights monitors claim Syria or Russia killed 58 in suspected chemical attack

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Tuesday that at least 58 people were killed in a chemical attack on a rebel-held town in northwest Syria. There are other reports, albeit unconfirmed, that an aircraft then returned to fire rockets at the clinics where survivors were being treated, BBC reports.

"I am speaking to my team and they are doing fine, but the situation over there is very bad and most of those who are suffering are children," said Mohammed Rasoul, who leads an ambulance charity in the nearby city of Idlib.

The Syrian government or Russian jets are being blamed for the suspected nerve-agent attack, which, if confirmed, would be the deadliest chemical strike since the Syrian civil war began six years ago. The Syrian government has long denied the use of chemical weapons, although they are accused of killing over 300 people in Damascus in 2013 by firing rockets filled with sarin.

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Other monitors put Tuesday's death toll as high as 100, with 11 children among the dead.