US-led coalition bombs Islamic State posts in Raqqa, kills 45 militants in targetted airstrikes

Damascus: At least 45 Islamic State militants were killed in the Syrian city of al-Raqqa, a UK-based war monitor reported on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3513367” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that most of the militants were killed in airstrikes carried out by the United States-led international coalition, reports Efe news. The international coalition backs the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance that has been fighting against the Islamic State since 6 June in al-Raqqa, the terror organisation’s main stronghold in Syria since it established its self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014. The SOHR said there were clashes between SDF fighters and Islamic State militants in the neighbourhoods of al-Barid and al-Batani, in the western and eastern parts of the city, respectively. More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since Syria’s conflict broke out in March 2011.