RUSSIAN Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov declared yesterday that no Russian or any other aircraft had flown over the northern Syrian refugee camp where 28 people were killed on Thursday.

Mr Konashenkov said in Moscow that the Russian military had studied airspace monitoring data and determined that no plane had passed over the Sarmada camp on Wednesday or Thursday.

He added that the destruction seen in photos and videos suggested the camp could have been shelled, intentionally or not, by multiple rocket launchers that the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, has been using in the area.

A Syrian military official issued an earlier denial of aerial bombing, calling all reports about the attack false.

France’s Foreign Ministry said the bombing “could constitute a war crime and a crime against humanity,” declaring that Paris wants an independent probe into this “odious act.”

However, the statement made clear that the French ministry’s mind was already made up, attributing the attack to the Syrian government.

UN human rights official Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein condemned the “murderous attacks,” speaking of “a particularly despicable and calculated crime.”

A coalition of jihadists and Western-approved rebels seized the strategic village of Khan Touman from pro-government militia fighters yesterday, just four miles from Aleppo where a fragile cessation of hostilities has begun.

The offensive signals the re-emergence of the Army of Conquest jihadist coalition, comprising the Nusra Front, Jund al-Aqsa and Ahrar al-Sham, aided by other Saudi-supported groups.