Sixty people were killed, including civilians and fighters, when the Syrian army stormed several rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Monday, a war monitoring group said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said they were killed by gunfire or shelling as troops took the neighbourhoods of Fardous, Bustan al Qasr and Zibdiya. The army made new advances on Monday after capturing the Sheikh Saeed district, leaving rebels trapped in a tiny part of the city.