At least seven people were killed and 30 others wounded by a fresh mortar attack in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.
The activists' Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London- based watchdog group, said the mortars were launched by a jihadist 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 death toll of the government troops' shelling on the town of Salqin in Idlib a day earlier rose to 27.
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 death toll of the Syrian crisis at more than 160,000 people, including rebels, government troops and civilians.