DAMASCUS, Syria, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Human rights activists say at least 20 people were killed Sunday when a potential incendiary bomb was dropped on a crowded market.
The attack by Syrian military helicopters occurred in Al-Bab and involved a so-called barrel bomb, which the United States has condemned as being akin to napalm, MENA said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Al-Bab raid was the second time in as many days that barrel bombs had been deployed against Al-Bab by troops loyal to President Bashir Assad.
Middle East Online said 26 people were killed in Saturday's incident, and the casualties from Sunday's attack were still being tallied.
"The toll is likely to rise as dozens were wounded, some of them critically, and there are reports of victims trapped under the rubble," the Observatory said in a written statement.
Al-Bab is northeast of the city of Aleppo in mountainous northern Syria where the army has been on the offensive in recent weeks against rebel supply lines.
A Syrian security source told MENA the government had gained control of the strategic town of Nabuk.
