France says it has no information on air strike in Syria's Manbij

French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he had no precise information on whether French planes were responsible for an air strike that killed about 56 people around the northern Syrian city of Manbij.   

 

Syria's foreign ministry has said Tuesday's attack, which hit the village of Toukhan north of Manbij, was carried out by French forces.      

 

"On the actions of the coalition, I have no exact information on what French planes could have done," Hollande said, referring to a U.S.-led military coalition fighting the militants.     

 

"We are striking in the framework of the coalition and are very careful in our strikes," he told reporters.  

 

France's foreign ministry said in a daily briefing that it "gave no credit to statements made by the regime of Bashar al-Assad" and that an investigation by the coalition would establish if coalition air strikes against Islamic State had killed civilians.