At least 40 fighters of the Islamic State (IS) militants were killed over the weekend by the strikes of the U.S.-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, said 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 is information about the killing of family members of the IS fighters.
The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition has been pounding the IS positions in Syria since late last September, killing over 1,000 IS fighters so far.
On Wednesday, a Jordanian F16 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 airstrikes 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.
