A US missile strike targeting an airbase in central Syria killed nine civilians, including four children, on Friday, state news agency SANA reported.

The news agency said five of the civilians were killed in the village of Shayrat just outside the base of the same name. 

It said four more were killed in two other nearby villages -- Al-Hamrat and Al-Manzul.

Washington said it fired a barrage of 59 cruise missiles at the Shayrat base in response to what President Donald Trump called a "barbaric" chemical attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday that he blamed on the Damascus regime.