BEIRUT: Human rights group, Amnesty International says artillery, mortar fire and airstrikes by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo are killing mostly civilians, including children.

A new Amnesty report released Thursday said that air and artillery strikes against residential neighbourhoods are indiscriminate attacks that seriously endanger civilians.

Government troops and opposition forces have been fighting in Aleppo for a month after rebels took over several neighborhoods.

Amnesty says that among the dead are 10 members of one family, seven of them children. Their home was totally destroyed in two airstrikes on Aug. 6.

It said bodies of mostly young men, most of the time handcuffed and shot in the head, have been frequently found near the powerful Air Force Intelligence, which is a government-controlled area.