US-backed forces have seized full control of the northern Syrian city of Manbij near the Turkish border, after driving out militant group ISIL.

More than 2,000 civilian hostages, who were being used as human shields by ISIL, have been freed. Kurdish sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said around 500 cars carrying ISIL members and civilians reportedly left Manbij and headed northeast towards Jarablus, a town under Islamic State control on the Turkish border.

US officials said once the Manbij operation is completed, it would create the conditions to move on the militant group's de facto capital of Raqqa.