Aleppo airstrikes killing civilians, says human rights group

Artillery and mortar fire and airstrikes by Syrian government forces in the northern city of Aleppo are killing mostly civilians, including children, a human rights group has said.

A new Amnesty International report released today said air and artillery strikes on residential neighbourhoods are indiscriminate attacks that seriously endanger civilians.

Government troops and opposition forces have been fighting in Aleppo for a month after rebels took over several neighbourhoods.

Amnesty said that among the dead were 10 members of one family, seven of them children. Their home was totally destroyed in two airstrikes on August 6.

It also reported bodies of mostly young men, most of the time handcuffed and shot in the head, have been frequently found near the powerful Air Force Intelligence, which is a government-controlled area.