Seven killed in Syria mortar attack

At least seven people were killed and 30 others wounded in a fresh mortar attack in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, media reported.

The activists' Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based watchdog group, said the mortars were launched by a jihadi group called Jund al-Aqsa, which has recently pledged to target areas under the Syrian government's control in Idlib in return for what they called the government troops' targeting of rebel-held areas in Idlib.

Meanwhile, the observatory said the toll of the government troops' shelling on the town of Salqin in Idlib a day earlier rose to 27, Xinhua reported citing the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV .

The government troops have been deadlocked in battles with an array of rebel groups since the crisis in Syria began in mid-March 2011.

The observatory has recently placed the overall deaths in the Syrian crisis at more than 160,000 people, including rebels, government troops and civilians.