40 Dead in Syria Raqqa Airstrikes, Including Children: Monitor

Forty civilians were confirmed dead in Raqqa, Syria Sunday by a monitoring group, after airstrikes hit the city a day earlier.

The dead include at least eight children, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The monitoring group has reported Raqqa was hit by a wave of eight raids on Saturday, mostly targeting sites on the outskirts of the city.

SOHR has also stated restaurants and a shopping area were hit.

It's unclear whether the raids were conducted by U.S.-led or Russian forces.

Raqqa is the de facto capital of the Islamic State group's territory, which includes much of eastern Syria and north-west Iraq.

RELATED: 600 Brits Caught on Way to Join Islamic State Group

The strikes came amid fierce fighting between forces aligned with the Islamic State group and the Syrian government in the city of Deir el-Zour. The contested city sits on a main thoroughfare linking Raqqa with the Islamic State group's territory in Iraq.

Government-controlled zones in the city had been under siege by Islamic State group fighters for over a year and more than 200,000 people there are living in extremely dire conditions lacking food and medicine.

An unidentified source told Reuters that the group has been trying to attack the city almost on daily basis and on Saturday it carried out several assaults.

But by Sunday, reports surfaced the death toll from the weekend's fighting had increased to at least 300, while other sources on the ground in Syria informed that at least 400 people had also been abducted by Islamic State group fighters.

Supporters of the Islamic State group have claimed militants had also seized an army weapons depot and tanks. Reuters said they have not been able to independently verify these reports.

ANALYSIS: Who is Who in Syria's Civil War?