Air strikes kill at least 40 in northern Syria, says rights group

Air strikes around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 40 people today, most of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The pro-opposition monitoring group said there were at least six strikes on the outskirts of Aleppo and nearby towns. Dozens of people were wounded, it said.

"Some of the strikes in the neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab appeared to be targeting rebel headquarters but instead the rockets fell in a busy street and caused heavy civilian casualties," Rami Abdelrahman, head of the observatory, said by telephone.

Mr Abdelrahman said military aircraft targeted rebel positions in an opposition-held district of the city at midday but hit a crowded vegetable market, killing 14 people.

In a separate airstrike on the town of al-Bab near Aleppo, 15 people were killed, he said.

Another activist group, the Aleppo Media Network, confirmed the airstrikes and posted a video of what it said was the aftermath of the al-Bab raid, with plumes of smoke seen rising from the ground.

Reuters/PA