At least 12 people, including five children, have been killed in Syrian government air strikes on a rebel-held city, activists said today.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air raids - seven strikes in total - hit the north-eastern city of Raqqay. It said four women were among the 12 people killed and that dozens of other people were wounded.

Rebels captured Raqqa, the capital of the province of the same name, in March. It is the only major urban centre to fall entirely under opposition control since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.