‘Barrel bombs’ kill 11 people in northern Syria: activists

BEIRUT – Syrian activists say a new government helicopter strike on a rebel-held town near the northern city of Aleppo has killed 11 people.

Sunday’s attack is the second reported air attack in as many days on al-Bab, located east of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. On Saturday army helicopters targeted a rebel compound in al-Bab, but missed their target and hit a market, killing 26 people.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that in both strikes the military dropped makeshift bombs, known as barrel bombs. The bombs are made of hundreds of kilograms of explosives stuffed into barrels.