DHAKA: At least 100 people were reportedly killed in air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria, hours after the US and Russia announced plans for a truce.

Opposition activists said an air strike on a market in Idlib killed up to 60 people while at least 45 died in strikes on Aleppo province, reports the BBC.

A 10-day truce is meant to start on Monday, followed by co-ordinated air strikes against jihadist militants.

Turkey and the EU welcomed the plan but warned that further action was needed.

Turkey said aid must be delivered from the very start while EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini looked towards a “political transition”.

A spokeswoman for Syria’s opposition said the plan provided some hope but more details were needed about how it would be enforced.

In the capital, Damascus, the government endorsed the deal, the state news agency Sana reported.

There has been no official reaction from Iran which, like Russia, is allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The conflict in Syria, which began with an uprising against Assad, has raged for five years and claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people.

Millions have fled abroad, many of them seeking asylum in the EU, but nearly 18 million people remain in Syria, which has been carved up by fighting between government and rebel forces.

Some of Saturday’s air strikes are believed to have hit the towns of Anadan and Hreitan near Aleppo, Syria’s second city.

BDST: 0807 HRS, SEP 11, 2016
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