Fire, violence rage on in Syria

A government building in the northern Syrian city of Qamishli was targeted on Sunday by a car bomb that killed at least four people, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

"A suicide terrorist using a car laden with explosives attacked the western district of Qamishli," AFP quoted the state broadcaster as saying.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, has said that eight people were killed and another 15 were injured in the bombing.

The Kurdish city of Qamishli is situated near the Turkish-Syrian border and still has several checkpoints run by government forces.

Fighting for Aleppo

In Aleppo, meanwhile, large sections of the city's medieval market, a UNESCO world heritage site, remains alight after some of it shops caught fire during clashes early on Saturday. Much of the Souk al-Madina has been reduced to ashes.

"It is not only the souk that is burning, my heart is burning as well," an anti-government activist told news agency Reuters.

Outside the market, Assad's troops bombarded neighborhoods with intense shelling overnight, destroying homes and killing at least three people, according to the Observatory.

Aleppo has been a battleground for months, but fighting has intensified since Friday, when the rebels launched their largest offensive yet to try and recapture areas controlled by Assad's forces.

Violence was also reported in the Damascus suburb of Harasta and in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

Death toll mounts

According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 80 people were killed nationwide on Sunday, including 44 civilians.

News from Syria is hard to verify because foreign journalists are forbidden from entering battle areas.

The conflict in Syria has been raging now for 18 months, claiming the lives of at least 30,000 people, according to activists.

tm/ccp (AFP, dpa, Reuters)