DHAKA: At least ninety people were killed in a day of punishing air assaults on Aleppo as so-called barrel bombs rained down on the city, an opposition group said.

Women and children were among the victims in Saturday`s raids in various neighborhoods in the rebel stronghold, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday.

It added that 10 fighters from the radical Nusra Front were killed when their headquarters were targeted. Nine people were killed near Aleppo`s central prison, it said.

Barrel bombs -- drums packed with explosives and shrapnel -- can level entire buildings with one hit.

In four hours, the area of Ansari was targeted with about 17 air strikes, one medical staffer from a field hospital in Aleppo told CNN.

BDST: 2145 HRS, FEB 02, 2014