Syria government rockets kill 40 in Damascus suburb

Forty people, including a child, were killed on Friday when rockets fired by Syrian government forces hit a market in a rebel-held area outside Damascus, a monitor said.

The deaths came as top diplomats from 17 countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, met for the first time in Vienna to seek a political path out of the conflict.

"There were 40 people killed and at least 100 wounded in the centre of Douma," a town on the eastern edges of the capital, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

He added that one child was among the dead.

"There is still heavy fire now, with both rockets and mortars," he said, adding that the toll was expected to rise as people were still being pulled out of damaged buildings. 

The opposition National Coalition, citing its sources inside Douma, said the attacks were Russian air strikes.

Rebel-held Douma is in Eastern Ghouta, the largest opposition stronghold in Damascus province.

Government air strikes on Thursday also hit a Douma market and a hospital, killing at least nine people, the Observatory said.

 An eye witness said Thursday's attack had wounded hospital staff, limiting the treatment available for Friday's wounded.

 He said the latest attack happened as residents gathered at the market, and left corpses piled on top of each other.

 In the chaotic aftermath, a man in his thirties cried over the body of a young boy.

 "Since your father was killed in the last massacre, your mother has been telling you to stop working in the market. Why did you go? Why?" he cried.