Rebel mortar fire kills 8 in park in Syria's Aleppo

At least eight people were killed and 30 others wounded Friday in a public park in a rebel mortar attack on Syria's northern city of Aleppo, a well-informed source told Xinhua.

Three women were among those killed in the attack, the latest in an endless cycle of mortar shelling by rebels against government-controlled areas in Aleppo, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The fresh shelling came a day after rebels in Aleppo detonated a bomb in a tunnel under a police station, killing an undisclosed number of government officers.

The blast destroyed parts of the building of the police station in the al-Hal area, said Sham FM radio.

Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once an economic hub, has recently witnessed intensified fighting between an array of jihadist groups and the Syrian army.

Last Sunday, government troops fully severed the last supply route connecting rebel-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo and those areas inside the eastern part of the city.

Aleppo, located near the borders with Turkey, has been a focal point of clashes between the Syrian army and the rebels.

In the summer of 2012, thousands of armed militants stormed residential districts of Aleppo from its countryside, striking the economic nerves of the Syrian government, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting the rebels for undeclared interests in Aleppo.

The rebels captured several districts in east Aleppo and tried repeatedly to expand their presence to government-controlled areas in the west.

The rebels laid siege to western Aleppo districts after cutting the international road to Aleppo in 2014, a siege broken later by the Syrian army, with the help of Hezbollah. Endit