ISLAMIC State extremists in the northern Syrian town of Manbij took 2,000 hostages yesterday to use as human shields as they fled north.

The Kurdish YPG militia besieging Manbij said the militants had fled the town towards their stronghold of Jarabulus on the Turkish border.

“They used these civilians as human shields as they withdrew to Jarabulus, thus preventing us from targeting them,” said YPG Manbij military council spokesman Sherfan Darwish.