Captured computers reveal Isis plans

United States officials are hailing an intelligence breakthrough that could help to foil terrorist attacks in Europe, after Kurdish forces captured a huge trove of Islamic State computers and documents.

Laptops and USB sticks found during heavy fighting around the Syrian town of Manbij in the past few weeks amounted to more than 4500 gigabytes of computer memory, the officials said. More than 10,000 paper documents were also recovered.

An initial assessment indicated that the haul included significant intelligence on foreign fighters in Syria and potential insights into terror networks planning attacks in Europe, US officials said.

US Defence Secretary Carter said Manbij was a transit hub’’ for Isis fighters.

Kurdish officials described the material as ‘‘accurate, organised and important’’.

The full impact of the information was not yet known, said Colonel Christopher Garver, the US military spokesman in Baghdad. ‘‘It’s going to take a lot to go through, then start connecting the dots.’’

US officials said a Pentagonstaffed intelligence centre in Jordan Ash ‘‘key was helping to sift the information and disseminate it to other foreign intelligence agencies.

Last year US special forces recovered 7500GB of computer data during a raid on a senior Isis commander, Abu Sayyaf, in northern Syria.

It led to a series of air strikes that killed prominent leaders of the group.

Isis forces in Manbij have been under siege from Kurdish and Arab militias backed by US special forces for more than a month. The US government is investigating reports that at least 56 civilians died in a Western air strike on the town on July 19.