BEIRUT: At least 38 people, including 14 children, were killed on Tuesday when Syrian insurgents shelled three government-held neighbourhoods in western Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"More than 150 people were wounded. This is one of the highest death tolls caused by rebel shelling on regime areas in the city," said Rami Abdelrahman, the head of the Observatory, that tracks the Syrian civil war through a network of contacts.

He said insurgents bombarded the neighbourhoods with dozens of mortars and rockets.