Beirut • U.S.-led coalition aircraft unleashed a wave of airstrikes targeting the Islamic State (I.S.) stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria in what the coalition said Sunday was one of its most sustained aerial operations carried out in Syria to date.
I.S. said at least 10 people were killed and many others wounded in the attacks, which activists said triggered successive explosions that shook the city and created panic among residents. The U.S.-led coalition often targets I.S.-held towns and cities in Syria, but the overnight strikes on Raqqa were rare in their intensity.
In a statement, the coalition said it carried out 18 airstrikes throughout Raqqa province, destroying a number of I.S. vehicles and 16 bridges. An earlier statement said the attacks also destroyed vital I.S.- controlled structures and transit routes in Syria.
Raqqa is the de facto capital of the so-called Islamic caliphate declared a year ago by the Islamic State in territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. The sustained airstrikes add pressure on the militants in Raqqa, still reeling from last month's loss of the border town of Tal Abyad to Kurdish fighters. The town on the Turkish border was a major avenue for commerce and smuggling for the group.
An I.S.-affiliated Facebook page said one civilian was among those killed and 10 were wounded, including women and children. It also said the bombing destroyed several bridges.
The I.S.-affiliated Aamaq news agency released a video of what it said was the effects of shelling Saturday by a U.S. drone on Raqqa. It showed several wounded men on a stretcher and at least three young boys being treated for wounds at what appeared to be a hospital.
A Raqqa-based anti-I.S. activist network reported eight civilians were killed by the coalition airstrikes, including a 10-year-old child.
The casualty figures could not be independently confirmed.
The network, called Raqqa Is Being Silently Slaughtered, said at least one airstrike targeted a group of I.S. members in the city center. Another targeted an I.S. checkpoint, while a third destroyed large parts of an I.S.-held brick factory in the city. It said seven bridges used by civilians inside the city were also destroyed.
In the remote northeastern city of Hassakeh, I.S. suicide bombers detonated an explosives-laden truck near a main power plant Sunday. State-run news agency SANA reported casualties and damage in the plant on the southern edge of the city.
In Iraq, a Defense Ministry statement said government forces repelled an I.S. attack Sunday morning on the town of Haditha and the nearby Haditha dam in Anbar province. At least 20 militants were killed in the failed attack, said the statement, which did not provide any further information.
This Saturday, July, 4, 2015 photo provided by a website of the Islamic State group, shows a wounded man on a stretcher in Raqqa, Syria. A series of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria has killed at least 10 militants and wounded many others. The airstrikes were confirmed by the coalition, Raqqa-base activists and the Islamic State group. Arabic on banner reads, "Raqqa Urgent / Ten killed and tens wounded by crusader (Christian)-Nusayri (Alawite) coalition on Raqqa city. 17 Ramadan 1436 Hijri." (Islamic State militant website via AP)
This Saturday, July, 4, 2015 photo provided by a website of the Islamic State group, shows people inspecting a car purportedly damaged by U.S.-led airstrikes on Raqqa, Syria. A series of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeting the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqqa in eastern Syria has killed at least 10 militants and wounded many others. The airstrikes were confirmed by the coalition, Raqqa-base activists and the Islamic State group. Arabic on banner reads, "Raqqa Urgent / Ten killed and tens wounded by crusader (Christian)-Nusayri (Alawite) coalition on Raqqa city. 17 Ramadan 1436 Hijri." (Islamic State militant website via AP)
A Kurdish girl living in Lebanon waves flags of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as YPG, during a demonstration in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A Kurdish man who lives in Lebanon chants slogans as he holds a Kurdish flag during a demonstration in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Kurdish citizens who live in Lebanon hold a giant Kurdish flag in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, during a demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A Kurdish man living in Lebanon holds up a placard with Arabic that reads, "We are all against terrorism, We are all Kobani," in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, during a demonstration in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A Kurdish man who lives in Lebanon wears a headband with a photo of the jailed Turkish Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan, standing by a poster of him, during a demonstration in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Kurdish citizens who live in Lebanon hold banners and Kurdish flags during a demonstration in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. The placard in Arabic, left, reads, "We are all against terrorism, We are all Kobani." (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Kurdish citizens who live in Lebanon sit next to a poster with photos of Kurds who were killed in Syria, with Arabic writing that reads: Martyrs of Tal Arn and Tal Hasel, during a demonstration in solidarity with their Kurdish brethren in northern Syria who are fighting against Islamic State group militants, in front of the United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)