BEIRUT: Airstrikes killed 19 people in a village in Syria’s rebel stronghold of Idlib overnight, a rescue service there and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday.

The strikes pounded Maar Shureen in the northwestern Idlib province and injured 25 other people, the Britain-based Observatory said. The dead included seven children, it said.

The activist group added that Syrian government or Russian aircraft had struck the village. Russia’s Defense Ministry denied involvement, saying in a statement carried by RIA news agency that its jets had not flown in that area.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military, which says it only targets militants.

Idlib’s Civil Defense, a rescue service known as the White Helmets which operates in rebel territory, said on social media that fierce bombing killed 19 people overnight.

“There were two consecutive strikes. ... The second strike came shortly before rescue teams arrived,” Mustafa Youssef, who heads the Idlib Civil Defense, said.