The al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and likeminded groups stormed a town loyal to the government in the central province of Hama on Thursday, triggering intense battles with the Syrian army, a monitor group reported.

The Nusra Front, Aurar al-Sham, Ahl al-Sunnah, and Homs Battalion unleashed a wide-scale offensive on Thursday morning, storming the town of Zara in the southern countryside of Hama, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said over 40 airstrikes targeted the town and its vicinity, following the rebels' attack.

Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said the rebels committed a massacre in the town, but giving no further details.

The pro-government Sham FM radio said the Nusra militiamen killed 16 people in the town and kidnapped over 20 women and children.

Other activists said 30 government troops were killed in the town following the broad offensive Thursday.

The town is of strategic importance for the Syrian army, as it was a bastion of the government troops and the first defense line to a thermal station located northeast of the town.

Source: XINHUA