Russia denies blame for air strikes on Aleppo hospital

A view shows the damage inside al-Quds hospital which was supported by international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo, April 28, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Thursday denied its planes were responsible for air strikes that destroyed a hospital in the Syrian city of Aleppo, saying it had carried out no air strikes there in recent days. The al-Quds hospital was hit by air strikes overnight, killing at least 27 people, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Russian Defence Ministry suggested another country was responsible. "According to our information, on the evening of April 27, for the first time after a long break, there was a plane over Aleppo that belonged to one of the so-called anti-Islamic State coalition countries," it said in a statement. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly and Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Mark Trevelyan; Writing by Lidia Kelly)