KURDISH militia closed the noose on the northern Syrian town of Manbij yesterday, capturing an Islamic State (Isis) headquarters.

The YPG militia captured the Isis HQ in a hospital in the west of the town. It was being used as a command centre and logistics hub.

Anti-government groups claimed that a US-led coalition air strike on Al-Tukhar, a village nine miles to the north of Manbij, killed at least 56 civilians.

The Coventry-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the local co-ordination committees both said dozens more had been injured.

Isis reportedly launched a counteroffensive to lift the YPG siege of Manbij from the north on Monday. The death cult claimed to have captured the Al-Aqra mountains and the villages of Umm al-Sirraj and Qarah Saghirah to the south.

The coalition said it has conducted more than 450 strikes in the vicinity of Manbij.

With the assault on Manbij now in the final street-fighting stage, several hundred Isis extremists are believed to be holed up in the town.

US and French backing for the YPG’s campaign to wrest control of the entire Turkish border from Isis and Turkish-backed guerillas in the Azaz pocket to the west has angered Nato ally Turkey. Turkey may retaliate if the Kurds march north to the border town of Jarabulus, having already crossed Turkey’s declared rubicon of the Euphrates river to besiege Manbij.