Aleppo aftermath
Residents inspect the damage in a vegetable market from, what activists said was, bombing by warplanes loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad, in the al-Maadi neighbourhood of Aleppo REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

Five children were killed, along with three teachers and another man, in an air strike carried out by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad which hit a school in Aleppo, Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The air strikes came a day after shelling by rebels against Christian and Armenian districts of Aleppo on Saturday (11 April) and strikes by the air force in which at least 35 were reported killed and 50 wounded.

Both incidents were reported by the UK-based SOHR.

Head of the SOHR Abdel Rahman said: "Military aircraft struck a school in east Aleppo city and killed five children, three female teachers, and one man."

The school, Jamil al-Qabani, is in Ansari neighbourhood. SOHR believe the death toll could rise.

Saturday's attacks took place in the eastern suburbs of Al-Maadi and Sheikh al-Lutfi, where government air strikes killed 18 civilians.

"Seventeen other civilians were killed when rebel groups fired rockets on neighbourhoods controlled by the regime, including Suleimaniyah and other areas," said Rahman.

Also in Aleppo, a child was reported killed in the Sheikh Khuder district and many others wounded during another aerial bombardment. Syria's second largest city, Aleppo has been particularly affected by Syria's civil war.

More than 200,000 people have died since the outbreak of war in 2011. Various areas of the city are controlled by pro-government forces and rebel groups, with civilians regularly killed or wounded in the exchange of shelling and air strikes.

The incident in Aleppo comes as the United Nations plans an urgent mission to Syria's capital Damascus, where the Palestinian refugee camp at Yarmouk has mostly been captured by Islamic State and atrocities inflicted against civilians.

Head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) Pierre Krahenbuhl today visited Damascus to meet Syrian and UN officials. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said on Twitter the agency had treated 31 evacuees including two pregnant women.

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said on Twitter the agency had treated 31 evacuees including two pregnant women.

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