BEIRUT // Syrian activists say that two days of heavy clashes between Kurdish fighters and Al Qaeda-linked rebels in the northeast have killed at least 41 on both sides.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the clashes in Hassakeh province pitted Kurdish militias against rebels from two Al Qaeda-linked factions – Jabhat Al Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Such rebel infighting has become common in recent months in the northeast, which has a large Kurdish population.

The observatory’s director Rami Abdul-Rahman said Wednesday that 29 of the dead are from the two extremist groups, while the remaining 12 are Kurdish fighters.

* Associated Press