BEIRUT: Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes have been trying to drive back Islamic State across northern Syria.
The escapees also included Syrian civilians and members of Islamic battalions opposed to the more hardline Islamic State, the Observatory said.
Islamic State has put the town on high alert and has been using loudspeakers to tell citizens to capture the escapees, the Observatory said, citing people on the ground.
Al Bab was the site of Islamic State infighting over the weekend when several of its members broke out of another jail in the town and tried to head for the Turkish border.
The group, which included mainly European fighters, was stopped by other Islamic State members in clashes that killed at least nine, the Observatory said.
Around 95 captives have escaped an Islamic State-run prison in northern Syria, a group monitoring the war said today, saying the escapees included about 30 Kurdish fighters.
The jailbreak happened in the town of Al Bab, 30 km (20 miles) south of the Turkish frontier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Al Qaeda offshoot Islamic State controls tracts of territory across northern Syria and runs its own prisons, courts and other facilities in what it describes as an Islamic caliphate extending into Iraq.
The escapees also included Syrian civilians and members of Islamic battalions opposed to the more hardline Islamic State, the Observatory said.
Advertisement
Al Bab was the site of Islamic State infighting over the weekend when several of its members broke out of another jail in the town and tried to head for the Turkish border.
Advertisement
© Thomson Reuters 2015
COMMENTS
Advertisement
US Confirms Sharing Intel To Prevent Attack At Taylor Swift's Vienna Concert Who Is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Pakistani Terrorist Behind 9/11 Attacks Russian Prison Siege By ISIS Inmates Ends, Hostages Safe Who Is Jasveen Sangha, "Ketamine Queen" Charged With Matthew Perry's Death "Don't Expect Anything From Me": Kolkata Hospital's New Principal Loses Cool 2,000 Meth Pills, "Ketamine Lollipops": Inside Jasveen Sangha's "Drug Emporium" ISRO's Developmental Flight Carrying Earth Observation Satellite Lifts Off "Rs 700 For 1.8km": Delhi Man's Post On Uber's Surge Pricing Starts Debate How Extreme Weather Is Leading To Rise In Child Marriages In Pakistan Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.