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At least 33 people have been killed in an air strike on a market in a rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the BBC reported, citing activists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack happened in the northern Halak district.

The Aleppo Media Center, which put the death toll at more than 40, said two residential buildings were destroyed.

On Wednesday, government aircraft bombed a school in southern Aleppo, killing 18 people, 10 of them children.

The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) expressed outrage at what it said was the "latest wave of indiscriminate attacks perpetrated against schools and other civilian targets" across the country.

"These attacks appear to be escalating, in complete disregard of all the calls that have been made to stop this insane cycle of violence, and to avoid similar breaches of international law," it said.

Rebel-held areas of Aleppo have come under fierce aerial bombardment since mid-December, as government forces try to end a long-standing stalemate in the city.

Many attacks have seen barrel bombs dropped indiscriminately from helicopters on heavily-populated areas, leaving hundreds of civilians dead and driving thousands from their homes.