Turkey claims victory in al-Bab as SOHR says warplanes kill 24 civilians

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) - Pro-government media on Thursday broadcast Turkish Army Chief's declared victory over the Islamic State (IS) group in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, while a rights group said airstrikes killed at least 24 civilians.

"The al-Bab operation is over," said Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar during a visit to Qatar along President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Sabah newspaper.

No other media outlet corroborated the statement, though the state-funded Anadolu Agency relayed Defense Minister Fikri Isik's remarks that the IS was "completely surrounded" in al-Bab.

Isik who was on an official visit to attend a NATO meeting in the Belgian capital, Brussels, added there was a "serious" mopping up by his country's soldiers and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) units they support went inside the town.

Turkish troops and the FSA have been stalled by a fierce IS resistance during the last three months in al-Bab which the nearby Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) supported by the US and the Syrian regime army also eye to capture.

Turks' comments regarding the murky military situation in their Operation Euphrates Shield came as the UK-based Syrian Observatory For Human Rights announced that among the civilians killed by Turkish airstrikes in the Bzaa and Tadif villages of al-Bab since Wednesday 11 were children.

The observatory said the Turkish incursion that began in August of 2016 has so far killed 409 civilians casualties at least, "including 85 children."

A Turkish army press release said there were 20 airstrikes conducted against the IS targets on Wednesday that saw 15 militants killed.

The statement did not mention any civilian casualties, nor did it announce victory in al-Bab.

Editing by Ava Homa