Battle to retake last IS outpost in Syria continues

Fighting between Islamic State group and US-backed forces continued with the latter seeking to recapture the last Islamic State group outpost Baghouz in Syria. Many hardcore militants, including many foreigners, are still holed up in the shrinking space along the eastern banks of the Euphrates River.

Baghouz: Fighting continued into the night on Sunday as US-backed forces seeking to recapture the last Islamic State group outpost in Syria admitted they were facing "difficulties" defeating the extremists.

Spokesperson Kino Gabriel said Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were being slowed by mines, tunnels and concerns over harming women and children among the militants.

Speaking to reporters outside Baghouz on Sunday, Gabriel expressed hope that the operation against Islamic State group might finish in days.

The sheer number of people who have emerged from Baghouz, nearly 30,000 since early January according to Kurdish officials, has taken the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces by surprise.

In the last two weeks, many fighters appeared to be among those evacuating. But an unknown number of militants and civilians remain inside, refusing to surrender.

Gabriel said 29,600 people have left Baghouz since January 9, among them 5,000 fighters - far greater than the SDF had initially estimated remained inside.

He said the SDF no longer estimates how many people remained in Baghouz but added that recent evacuees told the fighting forces that another 5,000 were still inside.

Many hardcore militants, including many foreigners, are still holed up in the shrinking space along the eastern banks of the Euphrates River.

The capture of Baghouz would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to dismantle the extremist group's self-declared caliphate, which once covered a vast territory straddling both Syria and Iraq.