Russia denies reports its planes behind deadly strike in Syria's Idlib: RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Defence Ministry on Wednesday denied allegations that its warplanes had carried out deadly strikes on a village in Syria's rebel stronghold of Idlib that killed 19 people, the RIA news agency reported.

The overnight strikes pounded Maar Shureen in the northwest of Idlib province and injured 25 other people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The dead included seven children, it said.

"The planes of Russia's air force did not carry out flights in that area," RIA cited a defence ministry statement as saying.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)