News network Al Jazeera reported the explosives were placed in three tunnels running under historically significant parts of Aleppo. Fighting has been intense for the last week in this area, which is divided between rebel and government control.
"The attack is meant to break the government’s first defence line to Aleppo Castle [in the centre of the city] and storm the area," an Islamic Front spokesman revealed.
Earlier this year, the Carlton Hotel in Aleppo was destroyed by an underground explosives cache. The hotel was being used as a military base, and 14 soldiers were killed. The rebel miners had worked their way across the frontlines of the conflict. European commentators likened it to the tactics of the First World War.
Tunnels are being dug with rudimentary tools, such as pick axes, because mechanised methods would be detected.
