World / ISIS militants break out of Syria prison after bombing by Turkey

Detained members of Islamic State have managed to escape from a Kurdish-run prison in northeastern Syria today after Turkish shelling hit the area following the removal of US forces.

It comes as one hundred thousand terrified civilians fled the Turkish incursion into Syria as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's troops continue to advance - with Ankara claiming it has killed 342 Kurdish fighters.

'Five terrorists escaped from Navkur after shelling struck near the prison,' said an official from the Syrian Democratic Forces, the de facto army of the autonomous Kurdish region.

Video has emerged allegedly showing a number of prisoners escaping the compound, after Turkish mortar fire against Syrian Democratic Forces trying to move the occupants. 

It comes as Isis claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in Qwamishli that killed three people - although the group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks it has not been involved in. 

A prison guard at Navkur, which is located in the town of Qamishli, said before the reported breakout that the facility housed mostly foreign jihadists.

Turkey and its Syrian proxies on Wednesday launched a deadly cross-border military offensive against areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The attack has resulted in artillery fire striking near a number of critical facilities, including some of the prisons where thousands of IS suspects are being held.

Without the support of US troops, who pulled back from the border earlier this week, Kurdish fighters have redeployed from other areas in a bid to hold off Turkish-backed forces.

Another Kurdish official said the Jerkin facility, another nearby prison, had also come under regular Turkish fear, increasing the chances of a breakout there too.

Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday they had struck 181 targets east of the Euphrates River since the incursion started.

More than a dozen columns of thick smoke rose in and around the town of Tel Abyad, one of the offensive's first main targets on Thursday. Turkish officials said the Kurdish militia has fired dozens of mortars into Turkish border towns the past two days, including Akcakale. 

On Thursday morning Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighters were cheered as they rolled towards the border in armoured vehicles, heading for battlefronts where Kurdish fighters have dug in. 

The Kurdish-led SDF said Turkish warplanes had caused 'huge panic' when they attacked the Kurdish-held territory, and claimed the bombardments had killed and wounded civilians. 

SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said on Twitter: 'Turkish warplanes have started to carry out air strikes on civilian areas.'

Pictures and video footage from the ground appeared to show civilians desperately fleeing the area as clouds of smoke rose from the positions targeted by Turkish jets. 

There were signs of terror in the streets of Ras al-Ayn- one of the Syrian towns under attack with residential areas close to the border.

Near the town of Qamishli, plumes of smoke rose from an area close to the border after activists reported explosions nearby.

Bali reported yesterday morning that the SDF had repelled Turkish forces ground attacks. 'No advance as of now,' he tweeted. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish troops tried to push ahead on several fronts under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling but made no tangible progress.

The Observatory said that since Turkey began its operation, seven civilians have been killed. 

CNN Turk broadcast video showing a crane overnight removing a concrete block from the border wall and commandos moving in single-file alongside the barrier.

In the Turkish border town of Akcakale, around 30 vehicles carrying Syrian rebels, many pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft machines drove along the main road along the Turkish side of the border from Syria's Tel Abyad. 

They were accompanied by some 10 Turkish military armoured vehicles. It was not clear where they were heading. Earlier, a witness in Akcakale said volleys of rockets were fired from there across the border.

Turkish forces shelled targets near Ral al Ain on Thursday morning, and SDF fighters responded, a witness said. 

The Turkish border town of Akcakale was quiet for much of the morning after sporadic gunfire and the sound of tank movement were heard in the early hours, Reuters journalists said. Explosions just over the border had rocked the town of Tel Abyad earlier in the night, they said.

Turkey regards the Kurdish militia as a terrorist group because of its links to Kurdish PKK militants waging a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey. 

Troops have entered Syria at four points, two of them close to Tel Abyad and two close to Ras al Ain further east, according to Turkish media reports. Air strikes killed at least five civilians and three SDF fighters, while dozens of civilians were wounded, the SDF said. Thousands of people fled Ras al Ain towards Hasaka province, held by the SDF.

SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said the group's fighters had repelled a ground attack by Turkish troops in Tel Abyad.   

Tanks and troops had been massing on the border since Trump announced that American troops would step aside.

Hours after the assault was launched, President Trump tweeted that US troops should 'never have been' in the Middle East in the first place.  

In Damascus, Syria's deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad warned that the Assad government 'will defend all Syrian territory and will not accept any occupation of any land or iota of the Syrian soil'. 

Earlier, Turkish television reports said Turkish jets had bombed Syrian Kurdish positions across the border from Turkey. 

In the face of the onslaught, Kurdish authorities announced a general mobilisation, urging all civilians to 'head to the border with Turkey... to resist during this delicate historical moment'.

Kurdish leaders said they would hold their erstwhile US ally and the whole international community responsible for any 'humanitarian catastrophe'. 

In Ras al-Ain, Kurdish-led security forces set up checkpoints and stockpiled tyres to set alight to blur the vision of Turkish military pilots.

Ras al-Ain was one of the places from which US troops withdrew on Monday.

'We will not leave this land,' said Kaws Seem, a 32-year-old Ras al-Ain resident. 'War has been chasing us for years, and everyday Erdogan threatens us with a new attack,' he added.

It was expected that Ras al-Ain and Tal Abad would be the focus of the first assaults.

Kurdish forces have dug trenches and tunnels in both areas, covering streets with metal canopies to block the cameras of Turkish drones.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Wednesday he had 'serious concerns' about Turkey's military action.

He said: 'This risks destabilising the region, exacerbating humanitarian suffering, and undermining the progress made against Daesh which should be our collective focus. 

'Turkey has shown considerable generosity in hosting so many Syrian refugees.

'But we will not support plans for returns until the conditions are in place for a voluntary and safe return home.'

Prior to the invasion Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, two of the four British ISIS soldiers known as the 'Beatles' were taken into US custody.

There were fears the men would escape from Syrian jail after a Turkish invasion.  

They beheaded seven American, British and Japanese journalists and aid workers and a group of Syrian soldiers, boasting of the butchery in videos released to the world. 

Erdogan tweeted Wednesday that his armed forces along with the Syrian National Army had launched 'Operation Peace Spring' to 'prevent the creation of a terror corridor' along the Turkish border.  

He added the aim to is to eliminate threats from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and the Islamic State militants, and enable the return of Syrian refugees in Turkey after the formation of a 'safe zone' in the area.

The Turkish president wrote on Twitter: 'Our mission is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border, and to bring peace to the area. We will preserve Syria's territorial integrity and liberate local communities from terrorists.' 

A Turkish official confirmed the military action after explosions rocked the town of Ras al Ain in northeast Syria, on the border with Turkey.

Earlier Wednesday Syria vowed to respond to a planned Turkish invasion of the northeast of the country, saying it condemned Ankara's 'hostile intentions'.

The Syrian foreign ministry said the 'hostile actions' of the Turkish government revealed its 'expansionist ambitions,' saying an attack on Syrian territory 'could not be justified' and pledged to 'confront a Turkish assault'. 

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss Syria at the request of the five European members, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Poland.

In a letter to the 15-member Council seen by Reuters, Turkey said that its military operation would be 'proportionate, measured and responsible.'

The 22-member Arab League said it will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday.