More than 80,000 killed in Syria conflict: NGO

BEIRUT: More than 80,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict since it erupted more than two years ago, a monitoring group said on Sunday.

Nearly half of those who died were civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The conflict started out in March 2013 as a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad but spiralled into a civil war after the army unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent.