U.S. allies work to clear territory taken from ISIS

Explosives found, detonated

BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Syrian fighters on Sunday cleared explosives in the last area retaken from the Islamic State extremist group and arrested a number of militants hiding in tunnels.

The work came a day after the fighters declared military victory and the end of the extremists’ self-styled caliphate. The U.S.-led coalition said the clearing operations will continue until the area is secure.

A spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who goes by the name Mervan The Brave, said Baghouz village, where the militants made their final stand, is “full of all kinds of explosives.” He said the forces have detonated land mines and suicide belts left behind by the militants.

The Kurdish Hawar News Agency reported that during the combing, the Syrian Democratic Forces arrested a number of militants found hiding in combat tunnels. The Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman confirmed the reports but had no further details.

Other activist groups monitoring the area reported limited clashes between remaining militants and Syrian Democratic Forces fighters.

In a series of tweets, the U.S.-led coalition said the Syrian Democratic Forces continued “back-clearance operations” to rid Baghouz of any militants or weapon caches.

“The Syrian Democratic Forces will continue to deny Daesh a physical space and influence in the area and work to deny them the resources they need to return,” it said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “This back-clearance operation will be deliberate and thorough and help ensure the long-term security for the area.”

A day earlier, a Syrian driver working with NBC News reporters was killed by an explosive device that went off in a house used by the Syrian Democratic Forces as a command post and a media center for journalists covering the fighting in Baghouz.

Noah Oppenheim, the president of NBC News, said in a statement that network employees escaped unharmed and that the reason for the explosion was being investigated. He expressed “deepest sympathies” to the driver’s family and said the network is in touch with them to “support them however we can.”

The victory announced in Baghouz on Saturday marks the end of a five-year campaign by an array of forces to retake territories held by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. At its height, the Islamic State controlled a sprawling self-declared caliphate between the two countries that was home to some 8 million people.

The campaign against the group came at a staggering cost, with entire neighborhoods and towns destroyed in both countries. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed by Islamic State fighters during the extremist group’s reign as well as by the air and ground operations by the coalition and allied troops. Watchdog groups continue to document the casualties.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Democratic Forces said 11,000 of its fighters were killed in the fight against the Islamic State.

The militants were holding hostages and had detained civilians. The fate of many of them remains unknown.

Despite the territorial defeat, the militants have reverted to insurgent tactics and continue to carry out attacks in areas liberated months or even years ago. An unknown number of fighters and supporters slipped into Syrian and Iraqi towns and villages, forming the backbone of the new insurgency.

The fate of the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remains unknown. There is a $25 million bounty on his head.