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A Syrian government air raid struck near a school in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, killing at least seven people including children, two activist groups said.

The Aleppo Media Center activist group and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike hit the Seif al-Dawla neighbourhood in Aleppo. The city, once the country's largest, has been divided between government and opposition forces since mid-2012.

The Observatory said seven people were killed, including four children. The Aleppo Media centre put the death toll at more than 10 and said around 20 people were wounded. Differences in death tolls are common in the chaotic aftermath of attacks in Syria.

In one video posted on the Aleppo Media Center's Facebook page, rescuers carried a young boy and a man — both badly bloodied and covered in dust — to a waiting ambulance. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other Associated Press reporting.

Outside the capital, meanwhile, heavy fighting raged in and around the town of Maydaa between Syrian government forces and rebels. Activists say Maydaa is a key supply route out of the sprawling rural area known as eastern Ghouta, which has long been under government siege.

The Syrian state news agency said army troops had "tightened their grip" on Maydaa and farms in the surrounding area. The Observatory said government forces had captured a majority of the town but that fighting was still taking place.

Also, a journalist for the state-run Syrian Satellite Channel, Karim al-Sheibani, was wounded in the leg while covering developments in eastern Ghouta, the state news agency said. It said al-Sheibani was now receiving treatment in a hospital.

This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.

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