Between 30 and 50 people were killed Wednesday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo after a number of explosions rocked the city's main square, Saadallah al-Jabiri.

Syria's largest city and commercial center, the historic city has been subject to intensified fighting in recent days as rebels attempt to oust President Bashir al-Assad, Al Jazeera reported.

According to The Telegraph:
"Five minutes after the first explosion, a second bomb exploded. A third exploded after that," a state television reporter said. "There was a fourth car bomb which exploded before engineering units could defuse it," and reports indicate a fifth blast occurred not long after in the nearby Old City.

The number of dead ranged from 31, reported by the state news agency SANA, to 48, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Most of the casualties were soldiers, The Guardian reported, and there was no clear claim of responsibility for the attacks.

Today's attacks led to heavy fighting and a fire which gutted a large section of the medieval covered market, Reuters reported.

Suicide and car bombings have been rare in Aleppo during the 18-month rebellion against Assad.



Al Jazeera reported that more than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which began in March 2011.