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		</div><p>Islamic State fighters holding civilians hostage were allowed to leave the northern Syrian city of Manbij in a large convoy after US-backed forces seized the town.</p>
<p>A US military official said that some of the IS fighters may have already made their way into Turkey, but many were still in Syria.</p>
<p>Cololnel Chris Garver, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS, told Pentagon reporters that the decision to let the convoy leave the city was made by commanders of the Syrian Democratic Forces.</p>
<p>He said there were civilians in each of the vehicles, and the military wanted to avoid casualties.</p>
<p>He added that he did not know how many of the civilians may have been in the cars voluntarily, but some were very likely to be hostages.</p>
<p>It was not clear if the militants left under a pre-arranged agreement between the SDF and the IS fighters. During the offensive, the SDF had offered fighters a safe route to leave the town but they refused.</p>
<p>IS has repeatedly used civilians as human shields, including in recent battles in Iraq.</p>
<p>&#8220;They kept throwing civilians to basically walk into the line of fire, trying to get them shot to use that potentially as propaganda,&#8221; said Col Garver.</p>
<p>He said the coalition has been tracking and watching the vehicles as they headed north, but he declined to say where they were.</p>
<p>Syrian Democratic Forces seized control of the city on Friday and are now clearing the districts looking for militants and bombs.</p>
<p>Col Garver said that a &#8220;significant number&#8221; of explosive devices were left in the city by IS insurgents as they retreated.</p>
<p>Manbij is a key victory for the SDF and the coalition because it lies on a major supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS group&#8217;s self-styled caliphate.</p>
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