Amman:
Syrian government forces killed at least 20 people on Tuesday when they shelled a bakery in a neighbourhood under rebel control in the contested northern city of Aleppo, opposition activists said.
The dead included women and children, they said. Video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed decapitated bodies amid scattered bread loaves.
Majd Nour, an opposition campaigner in Aleppo, said two shells hit the bakery, located in the eastern Hananu neighbourhood, on early Tuesday afternoon. Free Syrian Army fighters were guarding it at the time, he said.
"The frontline is about two kilometers away from the bakery, at Karm al-Jabal. There has been a lull since the army shelled Hananu overnight," Mr Nour said.
"It was quiet all day and suddenly Assad's forces fired three shells. The first landed near the bakery and the other two hit it," he added.
Aleppo is Syria's biggest city and commercial hub. Rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad launched an offensive to capture it last month and street fighting has taken place on a daily basis since then.
© Thomson Reuters 2012