At least 40 militants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group were killed in air strikes by the US-led anti-terror coalition on Syria's northern province of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS, a monitoring group reported Friday.
The strikes at dawn Wednesday targeted housing compounds of the IS in al-Raqqa and a place for manufacturing explosive devices in the eastern part of the city as well as a training camp in the al- Manakhir area in the countryside of al-Raqqa, Xinhua reported citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Thirteen of those killed were Syrians while the rebels were from different nationalities, said the observatory, adding that there was information about the killing of family members of IS fighters.
The US-led anti-terror coalition has been pounding the IS positions in Syria since late last September, killing over 1,000 IS militants so far.
On Wednesday, a Jordanian F-16 fighter plane was downed over al-Raqqa and its pilot was captured by the IS. The incident marks the first downing of a foreign war jet by the IS over Syria.
Separately, the observatory said it had documented 474 air strikes carried out by the Syrian air force over the past three days on different rebel-held areas across Syria. It said at least 115 civilians were killed.
