US-led force gains ground in Raqa

US-backed fighters gained ground against the Islamic State group in the streets of Raqa yesterday, a day after their months-long offensive finally broke into the jihadists' Syrian bastion.

The Syrian Democratic Forces militia has spent seven months advancing on the city, with backing from the US-led coalition bombing IS in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Captured by the jihadists in 2014, Raqa became synonymous with IS atrocities including beheadings and public displays of bodies, and also emerged as a hub for planning attacks abroad.

On Tuesday, the SDF's Arab and Kurdish fighters finally broke into the eastern Al-Meshleb district of the city.

Early yesterday, they captured the neighbourhood and the Harqal citadel to the west of the city, the command of Operation Wrath of the Euphrates said.

The citadel sits on a hilltop roughly two kilometres (just over a mile) from the city limits.

Fighting was also raging in a military complex around two kilometres north of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitoring group said the US-led coalition had carried out heavy bombing raids to back the advance.

One of Tuesday's air strikes inside the city killed eight civilians, including three children, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Reported civilian casualties in coalition air strikes have swelled as the SDF has ramped up its offensive.

Late on Monday, at least 21 civilians were killed in a coalition strike as they tried to escape Raqa by dinghy on the Euphrates River, the Observatory said.