Activists say latest clashes in northern Syria between Kurdish opposition fighters and rebels linked to al Qaеda have killed 12 Islamic fighters, according to The Associated Press.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday, Aug 2 that the clashes took place overnight in the northeastern Hassakeh province.

The dead were all members of two al Qaеda linked groups, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Jabhat al-Nusra.

The rebel-on-rebel violence turned into a war within a war earlier this week after a powerful Kurdish militia called on its supporters to fight al Qaеda-affiliated groups to avenge a recent killing of a prominent political leader.