BEIRUT: At least 12 people, including children, were killed and dozens wounded on Friday when three surface-to-surface missiles struck in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo district, a watchdog said.

“At least 12 bodies have been recovered so far and there are more than 50 people wounded,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP by phone.

The Britain-based Observatory said the number of victims was likely to rise, as many people were trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings in the eastern district of Tariq al-Bab in the area of Ard al-Hamra.

In a video posted to YouTube, a billowing cloud of dense smoke was seen rising from the neighbourhood at dusk after one of the missiles struck.

The voice of a young man can be heard saying “surface-to-surface missiles,”while another yells “Hey guys, come help the ambulance!”In another video filmed after sundown, moments of panic could heard as men rushed to rescue people from the rubble.

People could be heard screaming “Car car!” to transport the wounded, while others shouted insults against President Bashar al-Assad.

In the most gruesome footage, which could not be immediately verified, the mangled bodies of the victims, including a toddler, could be seen lying in a dark room alongside others swaddled in blankets.

Just four days prior, 33 people including 15 children were killed in a missile attack on the nearby district of Jabal Bedro according to the Observatory.

Activists identified the missiles as Scuds, but the reports could not be verified.