Turkey said Wednesday fewer than 100 ISIL ‘jihadists’ were still holed up in a flashpoint Syrian town which has seen the bloodiest clashes of Ankara’s half-year campaign inside the conflict-torn country.

Speaking to NTV television, Defense Minister Fikri Isik said half of the town of Al-Bab was in the hands of Turkish troops and allied pro-Ankara Syrian gunmen, after the government repeatedly said it was “largely under control”.

Since launching its unprecedented incursion into Syria in August, Turkey has been focusing on Al-Bab as the last bastion of ISIL extremists in Aleppo province.

But the battle for the town has been fierce, with most of the 69 Turkish soldiers killed in the Syria campaign dying there.

“We estimate there are less than 100” ISIL fighters left in Al-Bab, Isik told NTV. “But they are very dangerous people. Some are snipers, some are potential suicide bombers.”

“More than half of the town is now in our hands,” he said, indicating that the operation to surround Al-Bab was “over” with troops now moving from district-to-district to “clean up” the town.

“Until this clean-up inside is completed, it’s impossible to say that our work is over,” he added.

Source: AFP