US-led coalition says 300-400 extremists in Syria’s Raqqa

Between 300 and 400 Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) extremists remain in their one-time Syrian bastion of Raqqa, where a Kurdish-Arab force is fighting to seize full control, the US-led coalition said Thursday. “We are looking at approximately 4,000 civilians who remain in Raqqa, and a matter of 300-400 remaining [IS] fighters,” coalition spokesman US Colonel Ryan S. Dillon told reporters in Baghdad. The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, have taken control of around 90 percent of the city from IS since they entered it in June.