The Latest: Activists: Cluster bombs kill 15 in east Syria
By Associated Press
Jun 28, 2017 6:45 AM CDT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

2:45 p.m.

Activists say a cluster bomb attack on an Islamic State-held village in eastern Syria has killed at least 15 people, including women and children.

Two Syrian monitoring groups, Deir Ezzor 24 and Justice For Life, say the weapons were dropped by an unidentified jet over Doblan, a village on the Euphrates River. Russian, Syrian, and U.S.-led coalition aircraft are all known to fly sorties in the area.

Cluster bombs are designed to spread small bomblets across a wide area. But many fail to explode, endangering civilians long after the fighting has ended.

Omar Abou Layla, the head of Deir Ezzor 24, says the bodies of 15 victims have been recovered in the village. He said residents expect to find many more killed.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the initial toll at 30 dead.

At least 57 people were killed in an airstrike on an IS-run jail in the Euphrates River Valley on Monday.

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9:30 a.m.

Turkey's military says it has returned fire after a cross-border attack by Syrian Kurdish forces.

A statement Wednesday said the People's Protection Units, or YPG, fired on Turkish territory overnight with anti-aircraft weapons from Syria's Afrin region. Turkish artillery units returned fire, destroying the "detected targets."

The YPG is the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia that is battling the Islamic State group in the extremists' de facto capital, Raqqa. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its southeast.

Turkey was angered by a U.S. decision last month to arm the Syrian Kurds, fearing the weapons will end up in the hands of Kurdish rebels in Turkey.