Militant Shelling Kills Eight People in Aleppo, Syria

A member of the Syrian Democratic Council said that eight people were killed during militant shelling of the Sheikh Maqsood district in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Eight people were killed during militant shelling of the Sheikh Maqsood district in the Syrian city of Aleppo, a member of the Syrian Democratic Council said.

"A Red Crescent ambulance was hit while trying to transport those injured, with eight injured people killed as a result," Rezan Heddo told Sputnik on Saturday.

Sheikh Maqsood a Kurdish district of Aleppo, which is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, has come under increasing attack from Islamist militants present in and around the city. The Nusra Front, Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaish al-Islam have been shelling the district with conventional armaments as well as chemical weapons.

Early in June, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan said that nearly 120 people have been killed in Sheikh Maqsood since February.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.

A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27. The ceasefire does not apply to terrorist organizations, such as Daesh and al-Nusra Front, both of which are outlawed in many countries, including Russia.