At least nine civilians were killed and dozens were wounded on Sunday when mortars and rockets were fired by militants on a mainly Kurdish residential quarter in the northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Kurdish YPG group and a monitor said on Sunday.
Spokesperson Redur Xelil, an official from the People’s Protection Unit (YPG), said the attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud quarter of the city killed nine civilians, including four children, two women and three men, Reuters reported.
Earlier, state-run Ikhbariya television station said in a news flash 14 were dead and at least 40 injured when mortars fired by terrorists in parts of Aleppo hit Sheikh Maqsoud.
SANA state news agency said the damage to property was extensive.
The residential area has been a major frontline in Aleppo for weeks, with heavy clashes between the Syrian Kurdish YPG militias and terrorists in control of large parts of the eastern portion of the divided city.
The YPG denies it is coordinating with the Syrian Army.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in Syria, also said the attack was among the biggest by fighters in the area that also adjoins state-run parts of Aleppo.
Heavy fighting flared in Ashrafiyah and in the Sakan Al Shabibi neighborhoods where Kurdish fighters sought to advance in militant-held areas with no signs that a truce agreed by international parties was holding in that area.
Kurdish YPG fighters have been trying to take advantage of the preoccupation of insurgents with fending off a Syrian ground offensive to disrupt traffic on the main highway near Sheikh Maqsoud, which is used by passengers and militants to get into the opposition-held areas of the city.
Rapid advances by the Syrian Army in the northern Aleppo countryside early last month allowed them to cut vital supply lines by the insurgents into Aleppo from Turkey. The YPG also made advances in that area in the wake of the progress by government forces.
