BEIRUT: Syria regime forces ousted the militant Islamic State group from a town near the border with Iraq on Monday after days of clashes to end a deadly incursion there, a monitor said.

On Friday, the jihadists used at least 10 suicide bombers in their offensive on Albu Kamal, quickly overrunning several of its neighbourhoods, the Syrian Observa­tory for Human Rights said.

It was the biggest attack on the town in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor since the jihadist group lost it to regime forces in November 2017, the Britain-based monitor said.

On Monday, “regime forces and their allies regained control of the whole town of Albu Kamal after expelling IS from its northern and northwestern parts,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

After loyalist forces tried to surround them, the jihadists fled back into Syria’s vast Badiya desert, which stretches from the country’s centre to the border with Iraq, he said.

Violent clashes since Friday have killed at least 48 regime forces and allied fighters, as well as 32 jihadists including the 10 suicide bombers who led the initial raid.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2018