Damascus, October 22 (RHC)-- The Syrian army has managed to take more ground from Takfiri terrorists in the northern part of the Arab country.

Media reports said on Thursday that Syrian government troops captured five villages in their latest advances in the province of Aleppo. According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the commander of a foreign-backed militant group was killed in clashes in the southern suburb of the city of Aleppo.

The UK-based group added that at least four civilians were killed and several others wounded when mortars fired by Takfiri terrorists landed in a neighborhood in Aleppo, which is Syria's second largest city.

On Tuesday, the army soldiers managed to kill a total of 20 terrorists during intense clashes in the Kaferkar village of Aleppo. An unspecified number of Takfiri extremists were also killed, and their weapons and munitions were destroyed as Syrian soldiers mounted an offensive in the Sheikh Lutfi village of the same province.

Syrian troopers also raided several terrorist hideouts in other towns and villages of Aleppo, killing a large number of militants and destroying their vehicles.

In addition, the army engaged al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front terrorists in the al-Ameriyah, al-Rashidin and Karm al-Jabal neighborhoods of the city of Aleppo. Scores of militants were killed in the fighting.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations.