Members of Iraqi police forces celebrate on a street on June 27, 2016 in western Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, after Iraqi forces retook the embattled city from the Islamic State group.
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During the withdrawal from the city, IS fighters took 2,000 civilians, including women and children, from the Al-Sirb neighborhood, Darwish told AFP.
Nasser Haj Mansour of the predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces says Manbij “is under full control”, adding that search operations are still ongoing to try find any extremists who might be hiding in the town. Several civilians were killed trying to flee, he said.
The SDF, with heavy air support from a US-led coalition, said last week they had taken nearly complete control of Manbij, where a small number of DAESH fighters had been holed up.
United States officials have said once the Manbij operation was completed, it would create the conditions to move on the militant group’s de facto capital of Raqqa where USA officials anticipate a tough battle.
The Syria Democratic Forces, with air support from coalition fighters, said last week they had taken nearly complete control of Manbij, where a small number of ISIS fighters had been holed up.
“It is now time for the good news, news that terrorism has been taken out of Manbij city”.
“As [anti-IS] forces take control of more border regions in Syria, ISIS [IS] will be forced to withdraw further”, he added.
The SDF’s offensive, which started at the end of May, aims to remove IS from areas it controls along the Turkish border.
After a 73-day battle SDF troops are now said to be clearing the city checking for booby traps and abandoned equipment left after hundreds of jihadists fled.
“The recent military advances against Da’esh [IS] by the Global Coalition together with the Syrian Democratic Forces in North West Syria are welcome and the European Union will continue to commit its efforts, as part of the Coalition, to its non-military fields of activity”, she added.
But the remaining soldiers abandoned their stronghold, fleeing for the Isis-controlled town of Jarablus.
ISIS seized Manbij around two years ago and has used the city as a hub for recruiting and processing foreign fighters, the Pentagon’s Deputy Press Secretary Gordon Trowbridge told journalists, according to a statement.
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On Friday, the SITE intelligence Group said IS killed five men in Iraq for smuggling people out of territory it controls.
