More than 15 civilians, including six children, seeking shelter in a Syrian refugee camp near the Turkish border were killed on Wednesday after it was hit by ballistic missiles fired by pro-government forces.

Two missiles hit the camp close to a maternity hospital shortly after 8.20pm local time in the town of Qah in the last remaining rebel-held province of Idlib in northwest Syria.

Footage from the scene showed tents engulfed in fire and people screaming. The youngest of the victims was in nappies and appeared to be under one year old.

Another of the missiles, which had been filled with cluster bombs, had failed to explode and was seen lying close to the site.

“The camp is the oldest in this area and is considered one of the oldest on the Turkish-Syrian border so everyone knows where it is,” Obeida Dandoosh, an activist who arrived at the scene shortly after the attack, told the Telegraph.