The state-funded Russian news organization RT (formerly Russia Today) has disputed the reported civilian casualty figures from a suspected coalition airstrike against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) in Syria, saying the civilian death toll from the air assault is likely to be higher than what has been reported to Western media organizations.

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The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported that some 26 civilians, among them four women and seven children, were killed in an airstrike allegedly conducted by US-led coalition forces on the village of al-Khan, in Syria, last Monday.

Quoting local sources, however, RT suggests that as many as 34 civilians were killed while 17 others were injured as a result of the air assault. Ten houses in the village were completely destroyed, according to one of the unnamed sources. 

The RT source went on to say that ISIS fighters, who apparently were not in control of al-Khan when the strike occurred, went on to attack the village after the air raid, engaging Syrian moderate forces in the process.

More civilians are said to have been hurt in the firefight that ensued as ISIS fighters "tried to prevent the exodus of residents" from the contested area.  The Syrian moderate forces managed to expel the ISIS fighters from the village later that day, according to the source.  

The RT news agency has in the past been accused of being part of the Kremlin's propaganda machinery, at times even by its own journalists. But some Western media sources have reported that US warplanes have in fact been working in the area along with Kurdish fighters and coalition special forces, who have been calling in airstrikes from the ground.

Explaining the difficulty of determining the number of civilian casualties, Syrian journalist Alaa Ebrahim said many people hurt in the crossfire "would not be taken to hospital for fear of being arrested by the Kurdish or Syrian government."

The US military said it is assessing the allegations.

"Every time we get information about the possibility of a civilian casualty incident, we always do a credibility assessment on that information," said Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren. "If the information is found to be credible, we'll conduct an investigation, and we'll release the results of that investigation." 

TagsRussia, anti-ISIL coalition, Airstrikes, civilian casualties, US