Missile attack kills 18 civilians in Syria's Aleppo

By Adham Kako

ALEPPO, Syria

At least 18 civilians were killed in a missile attack in Syria's northern Aleppo province, a local civil defense official said Monday.

The attack -- blamed on the regime forces -- targeted a three-storey building in Uwayjil village in Aleppo's western countryside late Sunday, Mohammed Hallak told Anadolu Agency.

He said nine children and four women were among the victims.

"One woman was rescued from under the debris of the destroyed building," he added.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara