Death toll tops 370,000 in Syrian war

BEIRUT, Mar 15 (AFP): Eight years of war in Syria have left more than 370,000 people dead including 112,000 civilians, a monitor said on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources across the country, said more than 21,000 children and 13,000 women were among the dead.

The conflict flared after unprecedented anti-government protests in the southern city of Daraa on March 15, 2011.

Demonstrations spread across Syria and were brutally suppressed by the regime, triggering a multi-front armed conflict that has drawn in foreign powers and militant groups.

The Britain-based Observatory's last casualty toll on the Syrian conflict, issued in September, stood at more than 360,000 dead.

Over 125,000 Syrian government soldiers and pro-regime fighters figured in the latest toll, the monitoring group said.

It said other fighters, including rebels and Kurds, accounted for 67,000 of those killed.