IS men emerge from tunnels, surrender to US-backed forces

Surrendering IS fights embark on pickup trucks. Pic/AFP

Baghouz: Dozens of Islamic State group jihadists emerged from tunnels to surrender to US-backed forces in eastern Syria on Sunday, a day after their "caliphate" was declared defeated.

Syria's Kurds warned that despite the demise of the proto-state, 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.

"They are IS fighters who came out of tunnels and surrendered," 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. "Some others could still be hiding inside," said Amed.

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