Barrel bombs dropped on Aleppo by Syrian government

Government aircraft have dropped barrel bombs on the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 11 people, according to Syrian activists.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the makeshift bombs were dropped on two rebel-held districts of Aleppo today. A child and a woman are among those who died, the Observatory said.

The attacks are part of a campaign by President Bashar Assad’s forces to wrest control of Aleppo, parts of which were seized by rebels in mid-2012.

Barrel bombs are containers that have been packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives. They are loaded onto Syrian military helicopters and pushed out of the rear door.