FRENCH President Francois Hollande claimed yesterday that he did not know whether his country’s air force had killed 125 civilians by bombing a Syrian village on Tuesday.

Mr Hollande’s evasions came amid a chorus of protest from opposing sides in the Syrian war and from the United Nations over the actions of the US-led “coalition” bombing Syria — of which Britain is part.

“On the actions of the coalition, I have no exact information on what French planes could have done,” Mr Hollande said.

“We are striking in the framework of the coalition and are very careful in our strikes.”

On Wednesday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry wrote to UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon and the security council, demanding they condemn the bombing of al-Tukhar and blaming France.

Al-Tukhar, which lies north of Manbij in Aleppo province, is besieged by the US-backed Kurdish separatist YPG militia.

Yesterday the YPG offered the Islamic State occupiers a 48-hour amnesty to pull out of the town, leaving behind their heavy weapons.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter promised an investigation, while a coalition spokesman said there were “multiple national aircraft providing strikes in Manbij.

“So how the Syrian government knows who conducted what strike, I question.”

The French Foreign Ministry said it “gave no credit to statements made by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.”

But UN children’s agency Unicef said “more than 20 children” were killed in the attack.

“No matter where they are in Syria or under whose control they live, absolutely nothing justifies attacks on children,” the agency said.

Even the Western-backed, overseas-based Syrian National Coalition (SNC) called for a halt to coalition air raids while the incident is investigated.

SNC president Anas al-Abdah warned that it would “prove to be a recruitment tool for terrorist organisations.”

The Free Syrian Army called the bombing a “shocking massacre,” while dozens of people protested in the FSA-held border town of Azaz on Wednesday. One young boy held a placard reading: “Our children will tell God everything.”

Unicef also condemned the beheading of a 12-year-old Palestinian refugee boy by CIA-armed Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement terrorists in besieged east Aleppo on Tuesday.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry has urged the security council to speak out on that atrocity as well.