Islamic extremists capture more territory from rivals in Syria

ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS have captured two key towns and several villages near Syria’s northern border with Turkey after pushing out rival fighters in fierce clashes.

The towns, located in Syria’s Aleppo province, are the latest prize for Islamic State militants who have carved out a self-styled caliphate across vast swaths of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq.

Activists said fighters from the group captured the towns of Akhtarin and Turkmanbareh after fierce clashes with mainstream rebels who are fighting to topple Syrian president Bashar Assad. The militants also took a string of nearby villages, including Masoudiyeh, Dabiq and Ghouz.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 31 rebels and eight Islamic State group fighters were killed. The Observatory relies on a net- work of activists inside Syria for its information.

The capture of Akhtarin has strategic significance as the town is “the gate to the northern countryside of Aleppo”, said a local rebel commander.

It seems the Islamic State’s ultimate goal is to reach Marea, a town a few miles to the west that is considered a stronghold of the Islamic Front a powerful alliance of rebel groups battling against the Islamic State group.

Mainstream rebels who are not allied to Islamic extremists were said to be in chaos, being attacked by Syrian government forces on one side and the Islamic State on the other. The fighters from the al-Qaida breakaway Islamic State In neighbouring Iraq they are battling Kurdish fighters as well as Iraqi government troops and threatening genocide against religious groups who do not back their extreme Islamic views.