[ARA News] ALEPPO ــ Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Wednesday clashed with Islamist rebels, and killed and injured dozens near the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, leadership of the YPG said on Wednesday.
The Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Mqsoud in Aleppo –held by the YPG fighters– has been exposed to heavy shelling by Islamist rebels over the past few days.
The YPG issued Wednesday a statement, obtained by ARA News, saying: “On April 5, the terrorist groups [Islamist rebels] bombarded the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud from their positions in the ‘youth housing’, ash-Shaqif housing, the intelligence Street and the Ashrafiyeh district in Aleppo.”
“At least 15 civilians were killed and more than 56 others wounded in Wednesday’s attack,” the statement reported.
The YPG leadership pointed out that the Islamist rebels tried to storm the Kurdish neighborhood, but the YPG forces foiled the attack which led to fierce clashes between the two sides.
“The clashes, which continued until Wednesday midnight, resulted in the destruction of a tank and a weapons depot for the radical Islamists,” the statement read. “According to preliminary information, more than 36 terrorists have been killed and 70 others injured.”
Also, four YPG fighters were killed during the clashes, according to the Kurdish leadership.
Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, Rezan Hiddo, member of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), close to the YPG leadership, said: “Amid shameful international silence, dozens of civilians have been killed and injured so far due to the barbaric attacks by the terror Islamist groups.”
“At least 14 civilians were killed and 52 others wounded, some of them are seriously injured,” he said.
ARA News could not verify the death toll from other independent sources.
“Five Kurdish fighters were killed while defending civilians in Sheikh Maqsoud. One of them was identified as Abu Rawanــ a leading member of the YPG forces in Aleppo,” eyewitnesses told ARA News.
Over the past few weeks, hundreds of civilians, including women and children, were killed in attacks led by Arab Islamist groups on the Kurdish neighborhood in Syria’s northern Aleppo city, according to local sources. 
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