DHAKA: More than 11,000 children have died in Syria’s civil war in nearly three years, including hundreds targeted by snipers, a new report says.

Summary executions and torture have also been used against children as young as one, the London-based Oxford Research Group think tank says.

The report says the majority of children have been killed by bombs or shells in their own neighbourhoods.

Their report, Stolen Futures — the Hidden Toll of Child Casualties in Syria, examines data from the start of the conflict in March 2011 to August 2013.

Of the 11,420 victims aged 17 and under, 389 were killed by sniper fire. Some 764 were summarily executed, and more than 100 — including infants — were tortured, the report says, according to gulfnews.com.

Boys outnumbered girls among the dead by around two to one.

Boys aged 13 to 17 were most likely to be victims of targeted killings, the report says.

The highest number of child deaths occurred in the governorate of Aleppo, where 2,223 were reported killed.

BDST: 1638 HRS, NOV 24, 2013