The Russian air force has carried out a strike on an al-Qaeda run prison killing around 60 people in Syria�s northwestern province of�Idlib, a UK-based monitoring group says.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights(SOHR), a jail and a religious court belonging to the al-Qaeda-affiliated�al-Nusra Front were hit in the town of Maarat al-Numan on Saturday.

SOHR claims that at least 29 terrorists and 21 civilians were killed as four missiles hit the buildings in the militant-held city.

Russia launched its first airstrikes against the Takfiri terrorists in Syria on September 30 at the request of the Syrian government.

Syrian forces have cut off foreign-backed militants� key supply routes by taking control of several villages in the northern areas�of Latakia Province.

Meanwhile,�Syria�s official news agency SANA reported that the villages of Rweiset al-Qamoua, al-Mgheiriyeh, Hawsh al-Mgheiriyeh, Rweiset Bani Jazi and Kedin were liberated.

Syrian forces have been battling militants, particularly Daesh, on different fronts throughout Syria since March 2011, when the foreign-sponsored militancy began. Over 250,000 people have been killed over the past few years of turmoil.

By Press TV