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REYHANLI — As many as 36 children were reported to have died excruciating deaths Tuesday after receiving tainted measles vaccines under a UN-sponsored program in the rebel-held north of Syria.

The program was suspended amid rumours of sabotage surrounding the high-profile international effort to ensure the civil war does not result in an outbreak of measles. Doctors in clinics in the towns of Jirjanaz and Maaret Al-Nouman in the northeastern province of Idlib said children started falling ill soon after the doses were administered.

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Relief organizations just over the border in Turkey said the loss of life was extensive, rising as high as 36, with more than a dozen other children in a serious condition.

“It’s very bad. The figures of dead go into the 30s. Children are dying very quickly,” said Daher Zidan, the coordinator of the medical charity, Uossm. “We think it will get worse.”

The Syrian opposition coalition, which controls the area of Idlib province and had been administering the program, said it had halted the immunization project.