Afrasianet - A Turkish bombing raid struck the main hospital in the Kurdish-controlled Syrian town of Afrin on Friday killing nine people, a monitor said, as Ankara pressed its nearly two-month assault.

"There are at least nine dead. We don't know if there are medical staff among them," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

Earlier on Friday, 18 civilians, including five children, were killed in Turkish artillery shelling of the northern Syrian city of Afrin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Unit reported.

The observatory announced that at least 2,500 people fled overnight from the city of Afrin in buses and cars to the villages of Nabal and Zahra.

(With AFP)