UNICEF says dozens of children trapped in Aleppo

The UN’s children’s agency is warning that dozens of unaccompanied children are trapped in a building under fire in eastern Aleppo and is calling for their immediate evacuation from the rebel enclave.

UNICEF says in a statement that there could be more than 100 children trapped in the building.

UNICEF regional director, Geert Cappelaere, says it’s “time for the world to stand up for the children of Aleppo and bring their living nightmare to an end.”

Pro-government forces have launched a ferocious assault on Aleppo’s few remaining opposition-held neighborhoods, trapping thousands of civilians under unrelenting heavy fire. There are unconfirmed reports that government forces are killing civilians.

Cappelaere says that UNICEF is “deeply concerned” over the unverified reports of the “extrajudicial killings of civilians, including children.”

— AP