BEIRUT -- The U.S. military has denied reports that civilians were killed in a coalition airstrike last week on a town in northern Syria.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Maj. Curtis Kellogg, confirmed in a statement late Sunday that coalition forces conducted strikes near Bir Mahli last Thursday. He said several Islamic State fighting positions were destroyed and more than 50 militants killed.
He said the U.S. has "no indication that any civilians were killed."
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that at least 52 civilians died in the strikes on Bir Mahli. It said only civilians in their homes were hit.
Maj. Kellogg said Kurdish forces that held the town before IS reported that no civilians had been in Bir Mahli for two weeks.
