BEIRUT: Syrian forces dropped a crude bomb on a mosque that was being used as a school in a rebel-held neighborhood of a key northern city on Tuesday, killing at least five people, including children, activists said.

The bombing — one of at least seven around Aleppo on Tuesday — came amid an intensified campaign by President Bashar Assad’s government to take back parts of the city that were seized by rebels in mid-2012.

Far from the battlegrounds in Syria, Assad’s biggest international ally expressed confidence the government would return to the UN-hosted peace talks in Geneva that are trying to find a solution to the conflict.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Moscow’s special envoy to the Middle East, Mikhail Bogdanov, said Tuesday he was sure the Syrian government would take part in the second round of the talks.

“We have no doubts that the government representatives will take place in a second round of talks between the Syrian sides in Geneva,” Bogdanov said in comments carried on Russian news agencies. “We hope that both sides will continue a patient, constructive discussion.”

He spoke following a meeting in Moscow with visiting Syrian opposition group, the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition.

The mosque targeted Tuesday in Aleppo — the Uthman Bin Affan mosque in the Masaken Hanano district — was used as a religious school for children, said activist Hassoun Abu Faisal of the Aleppo Media Center.

He said children were inside when it was hit with a barrel bomb. The Local Coordinating Committees, another activist group, says five people were killed in the strike. It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the victims were children. Abu Faisal said 10 people were killed but conflicting casualty tolls follow such attacks are common.

Footage posted on social media shows men carrying at least two lifeless bodies of children, covered in dust and blood. The area in the footage is strewn with rocks, concrete and bodies. The lifeless bodies of an adult and a child are lying on the pavement. One man is seen walking past, clutching his head in anguish. The video was consistent with the Associated Press’ reporting of the event.