US-backed forces trying to oust Islamic State militants from the Syrian city of Manbij have taken "almost complete control" of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.
The Syria Democratic Forces, which include the powerful Kurdish YPG militia and Arab fighters, launched their campaign two months ago with the backing of US special forces to drive Islamic State from a last stretch of the Syrian-Turkish frontier.
Pockets of Islamic State militants are still present in the centre of the city, the Britain-based Observatory said on Saturday.
The official spokesman of the SDF-allied Manbij military council, Sharfan Darwish, told Reuters that battles were continuing but that around 90 per cent of the city had now been cleared of Islamic State.
