Jihadists emerge from tunnels to surrender
BAGHOUZ:Dozens of Islamic State group jihadists emerged from tunnels to surrender to US-backed forces in eastern Syria, a day after their “caliphate” was declared defeated.
Syria’s Kurds warned that despite the demise of the protostate, the thousands of foreign jihadists they have detained are a time-bomb the world urgently needs to defuse. An AFP reporter saw dozens of people, mostly men, file out of the battered jihadist encampment in the remote village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border to board pickup trucks on Sunday.
“They are IS fighters who came out of tunnels and surrendered today,” Kurdish spokesman Jiaker Amed said.
Some sported thick beards and wore long woollen kaftans over their dark-coloured robes, or a chequered scarf around their faces, as they trudged out of their final hideout under the drizzle. “Some others could still be hiding inside,” said Amed.
World leaders were quick to hail Saturday’s announcement by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that the last shred of land controlled by IS in Syria had been conquered.
But the top foreign affairs official for the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region warned IS members captured during the assault still posed a threat.
“There are thousands of fighters, children and women and from 54 countries, not including Iraqis and Syrians, who are a serious burden and danger for us and for the international community,” Abdel Karim Omar said. “Numbers increased massively during the last 20 days of the Baghouz operation.”