US Colonel
John Thomas said the deaths were not the result of coalition military action,
which led him to conclude responsibility lay with Russia or Syria's military.
"It was
certainly not the coalition who struck from the air; it does look like an
airstrike," he said, adding "the only other entities that fly in
Syria are Russia and Syria".
An aid convoy attacked in
Syria was travelling with a militant pick-up truck armed with a heavy mortar,
Russia claims.
No one has claimed
responsibility for the airstrike on Monday evening, which killed around 20 aid
workers delivering humanitarian supplies to civilians in rebel-held Urm al
Kubra near Aleppo.
The US believes two Russian
Su-24 jets carried out the attack, based on location and timing.
But Moscow has denied it was
behind the raid and released drone footage of what it claimed was the convoy
being accompanied by the armed truck.
The UN Security Council
will hold a high-level meeting on Syria this afternoon, and the distrust
between the US and Russia is likely to be high on the agenda.
The vehicle
was driving alongside the fleet of trucks parked by a warehouse on the east
side of Urum al Kubra. The drone moved away to a different area before the
strike.
Russian Major General Igor
Konashenkov said: "The examination of the video footage made via drones of
the movement of the humanitarian convoy in areas controlled by militants in the
province of Aleppo has revealed new details.
"The video clearly
shows how terrorists are redeploying a pickup with a large-calibre mortar on it
using the convoy as a cover."
Another video shot from a
drone has also emerged which shows the lorries parked in the compound of a
depot, an unknown amount of time before the airstrike occurred.
It is also unclear whether
the video, which was broadcast live by Russia Today on Youtube, features the
heavily armed militant pick-up truck that Russia claims was travelling with the
convoy.
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