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It is one of the most horrific and tragic pieces of footage to emerge from the brutal Syrian civil war.

Schoolchildren scream in agony, writhing in pain from an apparent napalm bombardment which left them with searing burns injuries and breathing difficulties.

Some of the pupils deliberately targeted by a regime fighter-bomber were left shaking and trembling with shock after their playground was hit by an incendiary bomb.

Sadly as many as 4,000 Syrian schools have been attacked or destroyed by the country’s warring sides.

And as many as one million Syrian children have been made refugees by the two and a half year-long war.

Deeply traumatised witnesses told a team from the BBC’s Panorama programme that the fighter jet had repeatedly flown overhead, as if searching for a target, before dropping the bomb.

The attack killed more than ten pupils and left many more seriously injured - suffering from 50% burns that may mean they will die in agony.

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Footage showed adults and children, their clothes burned from their bodies, being treated on the floor of a basic hospital.

Many were badly burned, shaking uncontrollably and left caked in a white substance, injuries which it has been suggested mean the bomb contained something like napalm or thermite.

The headmaster of the school said: “This was the most horrific thing.

"We have seen images on TV, we have heard many stories, but we have never seen anything like this before.

“The worst thing in life is watching someone die right in front of you and you can’t do anything.

“There were dead people, people burning and people running away, but where to?

"Where would they go? It is not safe anywhere. That is the fate of the Syrian people.”

A British medic, Dr Rola, who was in Syria with the charity Hand In Hand, treated the victims at the hospital.

She said: “It is just absolute chaos and carnage here. We have had a massive influx of what looks like serious burns, seems like it must be some sort of, not really sure, maybe napalm, something similar to that.

“But obviously within the chaos of the situation it is very difficult to know exactly what is going on.”

She added later: “We feel like some sort of, not even a second class citizen, like we just don’t matter.

"Like all of these children, and all of these people who are being killed and massacred, we don’t matter.

“The whole world has failed our nation and it is innocent civilians who are paying the price.

“All of these children - and all of these people being killed and maimed - they do not matter.

"The world has failed and innocent civilians are paying the price.”

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Mohammed Abdullatif, who witnessed the attack, had a message for the United Nations.

“Dear United Nations, you are calling peace, you are calling for peace.

"What kind of peace are you calling for? Don’t you see this, don’t you see this? What do you need to see?

“We are just human beings, we want to live. It is our right to live,” he said.

The latest video nasty from Syria horrified peace campaigners and childrens’ charities all over the world.

Gareth Owen, Humanitarian Director, at Save the Children said: “The BBC’s shocking report on the alleged napalm attack on children in a school in Northern Syria, shows how schools – which should be places of safety for children – have become targets in this bitter conflict.

“In Syria, nearly 4,000 schools have been destroyed, damaged or occupied since the start of the conflict; in many places, children are either too frightened to go to school, or there are no longer any schools to go to .

“Save the Children is helping communities in Syria, to keep schools open where possible, and setting up temporary learning spaces where they are not, so 14,000 children can access safe education.

“But we want to do much more and that’s why we are urgently calling for unfettered humanitarian access to all parts of Syria, to ensure Syria children are not deprived the fundamental right to an education.”