'Capital of Terrorism' Has Fallen

ISIS has lost control of Raqqa, the seat of its caliphate
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 17, 2017 6:27 AM CDT
ISIS' de Facto Capital Has Fallen
This frame grab from video released Sunday, Oct. 15, 2017, shows Islamic State fighters who surrendered entering a base of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, in Raqqa, Syria.   (Furat FM, via AP)

A commander with the US-backed Syrian forces battling the Islamic State group says the city of Raqqa has been liberated from Islamic State militants and that operations are underway to clear the city of land mines and extremist sleeper cells. Brig. Gen. Talal Sillo told the AP on Tuesday that there are no longer clashes going on in the city. Sillo says a formal declaration will follow befitting "the fall of the capital of terrorism." Dozens of militants who refused to surrender had made their last stand in the city's stadium, which had become notorious as a prison and dungeons for the group. It wasn't immediately clear if ISIS militants are still holed up inside the stadium. The city of Raqqa fell to ISIS in 2014 and became the de facto capital of its self-styled caliphate. (More ISIS stories.)

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