IS militants attempted to infiltrate Tal Abyad

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Today a number of Islamic State (IS) militants managed to infiltrate the Kurdish-held city of Tal Abyad in northern Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS.

Speaking to K24 from Tal Abyad, Aziz Ismael, the Media spokesperson of the Kurdish internal security forces known as Asayish said, “Around 2 a.m., about ten ISIS gunmen stealthily infiltrated the city of Tal Abyad, hid in a residential area close to an Asayish station, and after clashes with the Kurdish forces for a few hours, the Asayish killed five ISIS armed men, and the rest fled.” 

Ismael also said that during the clashes, IS militants killed Ahmad Kamal, an Asayish force, and wounded seven others. “The clashes lasted for about four hours, and finally, we forced the terrorists to withdraw south towards their bases near Raqqa,” he added.

“So far we haven’t been able to figure out from which side they entered the city because there are still some IS secret agents in the city. It is obvious that those agents helped the terrorists to infiltrate the city,” Ismael further explained, pointing out that the situation in the city is secure and stable after the Asayish managed to control it effectively.  

Regarding the identities of the dead IS militants, Ismael said most of them are Arabs of the rural areas of Tal Abyad and Raqqa, and that the Asayish did not find any foreign fighters among the dead militants. 

On June 16, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), backed by Syrian rebel allies, seized Tal Abyad. The U.S.-led coalition air strikes fighting IS in Syria and Iraq supported the ground forces.  

On June 30, IS fighters re-entered Tal Abyad, seizing a district from the Kurdish forces that captured the border town in a key victory.

(Redwan Bezar contributed to this report from Tal Abyad)