Activists: Syrian barrel bombs kill at least 18 in Aleppo
Government helicopter gunships on Thursday bombed the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, killing at least 18 people and wounding dozens, activists said.
The bombings came even as Syrian President Bashar Assad vehemently denied in an interview with Portuguese state television that his military drops such explosives, known as barrels bombs, on civilians.
"You are talking about massive propaganda," Assad said in the interview.
The aerial attack on a rebel-held neighborhood was in apparent reprisal for an attack that was carried out one day before by opposition fighters against a building used by the government's state intelligence services.
Syrian aircraft have dropped hundreds of barrel bombs over the course of the civil war, killing thousands of civilians and causing widespread destruction. The crude tactic - which often involves hurling explosive-filled canisters from helicopters - has been widely criticized by human rights groups because the bombs are not precise.
An Aleppo-based activist who goes by the name Abu Raed said one barrel bomb struck a sh
