A/HRC/36/55 and produced less smoke than the others. Photographs of weapon remnants depict a chemical aerial bomb of a type manufactured in the former Soviet Union. 75. The chemical bomb killed at least 83 persons, including 28 children and 23 women, and injured another 293 persons, including 103 children. On the basis of samples obtained during autopsies and from individuals undergoing treatment in a neighbouring country, those who undertook the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons concluded that the victims had been exposed to sarin or a sarin-like substance. The extensive information independently collected by the Commission on symptoms suffered by victims is consistent with sarin exposure. 76. Interviewees denied the presence of a weapons depot near the impact point of the chemical bomb. The Commission notes that it is extremely unlikely that an air strike would release sarin potentially stored inside such a structure in amounts sufficient to explain the number of casualties recorded. First, if such a depot had been destroyed by an air strike, the explosion would have burnt off most of the agent inside the building or forced it into the rubble where it would have been absorbed, rather than released in significant amounts into the atmosphere. Second, the facility would still be heavily contaminated today, for which there is no evidence. Third, the scenario suggested by Russian and Syrian officials does not explain the timing of the appearance of victims — hours before the time Russian and Syrian officials gave for the strike. 77. In view of the above, the Commission finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Syrian forces attacked Khan Shaykhun with a sarin bomb at approximately 6.45 a.m. on 4 April, constituting the war crimes of using chemical weapons and indiscriminate attacks in a civilian inhabited area. The use of sarin by Syrian forces also violates the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction and Security Council resolution 2118 (2013). VII. Ongoing investigations 78. The Commission is gravely concerned about the protection of civilians in ArRaqqah Governorate, owing to the ongoing offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the international coalition to repel ISIL from Ar-Raqqah city. While numerous neighbourhoods have been rapidly overtaken, over 190,000 civilians have been displaced to areas under the control of Syrian Democratic Forces in the north of Ar-Raqqah Governorate, where they reside primarily in the Ain Issa and Mabrouka camps. The camps lack the resources and capacity necessary to adequately care for those persons. The lives of up to 60,000 other civilians inside Ar-Raqqah city remain at considerable risk under daily air strikes. Protection concerns faced during the conduct of interviews remain an issue. 79. The Commission is currently undertaking investigations into several allegations of aerial attacks in Ar-Raqqah, including an air strike on Al-Mansoura village, at the time held by ISIL, which reportedly caused up to 200 civilian casualties. The Commission has gathered credible information that, on the night of 21 March, an air strike hit the Al-Badiya school in Al-Mansoura, which since 2012 had been used to house internally displaced persons. At the time of the strike, over 200 people, mostly displaced families from Palmyra, Homs, but also from Hamah and Aleppo, were living at the former school, which is located approximately 1.5 kilometres from the village. Some of the victims were recent arrivals, including from Maskanah, Aleppo, while other internally displaced persons had been living there for years. The strike was carried out at night when residents were asleep. Almost all of those inside the school at the time of the strike were killed, while some survivors, including women and children, sustained serious injuries. Information currently available indicates that at least two families of ISIL fighters had been living in the school previously, but left about one month before the strike. 80. After its offensive to take Manbij, Aleppo, from ISIL, the Syrian Democratic Forces required significant reinforcements to set the stage to retake Ar-Raqqah city. The need for increased “manpower” resulted in a surge in forced conscription of thousands of civilians, 16