BEIRUT — The United States struck an Al Qaeda gathering in northern Syria, killing dozens of militants, US officials said Friday. They said they found no basis for reports that civilians were killed.
Syrian opposition activists said around 40 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a mosque in the area, accusing the US-led coalition of carrying out the airstrike Thursday evening.
Friday prayers were canceled across rebel-held parts of northern Syria after the airstrike that opposition activists and paramedics said struck the crowded Omar Ibn al-Khattab Mosque in the Jeeneh district in Aleppo province, killing and wounding dozens of people, some of whom were left trapped under the rubble.
US Army Major Josh Jacques, a US Central Command spokesman, said the United States did not target or strike a mosque.
‘‘We targeted an Al Qaeda gathering across the street from a mosque. The mosque does not appear to be damaged following the strike,’’ he said.
A Pentagon spokesman, Eric Pahon, said US surveillance of the target area indicated evening prayers had concluded before the attack. He said the building that was struck was a ‘‘partially constructed community meeting hall’’ that Al Qaeda leaders used to gather and ‘‘as a place to educate and indoctrinate Al Qaeda fighters.’’
‘‘Initial assessments based upon post-strike analysis do not indicate civilian casualties,’’ Pahon said. He said the Pentagon would investigate any credible allegations it received.
But Bahaa al-Halaby, an Aleppo-based opposition activist, said the Thursday night airstrike hit as about 250 people had gathered at the mosque for prayers or to attend a religious lesson. Mosques are usually crowded on Thursday night ahead of Friday, the day of communal prayers in the Muslim weekend.
‘‘This was one of the worst massacres committed in the area,’’ Halaby said.
An Islamic networking group, Advocacy and Intimation, is known to be active at the mosque where religious lessons are offered to the local population, according to Halaby and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also described the attack as a ‘‘massacre.’’
The Observatory said the airstrike on the mosque in Jeeneh killed 46 while the Local Coordination Committees, another monitoring group, said 40 were killed.
Such discrepancies are not uncommon in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Syria.
