Car bomb kills 30 in rebel-held area in Syria's Aleppo

At least 30 people were killed Thursday when a car bomb tore through a rebel checkpoint in Syria's northern province of Aleppo, opposition activists said.

The explosive-laden vehicle targeted a checkpoint manned by the rebels in the city of Azaz, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, near the Turkish borders, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Other activists, meanwhile, placed the death toll at 30, saying the Islamic State (IS) group was responsible for the bombing against the Jabaha al-Shamiyeh, or the Levant Front, rebel group in Azaz.

Azaz, a logistical supply route close to the Turkish-Syrian borders, fell to the rebels in July 2012.

The IS has been pitted against other rebel groups in Syria for a long time, particularly as many of the rebel groups are fighting the IS, as part of their bid to clear their records before the international community and portray themselves as "moderate rebels" to lure the United States and other Western powers to supply them with arms.

Also in Aleppo Thursday, at least five children were killed when rebel mortar shells slammed a school in the Slaiman al-Halabi neighborhood, located in the government-controlled western part of Aleppo, according to the state news agency SANA.

The violence in Aleppo has been recently intensified with warring parties shelling each other's areas, amid an international efforts to revive a ceasefire in that province. Endit