Islamic State militants seize 2 northern Syrian towns
Islamic extremists captured two key towns and several villages near Syria's northern border with Turkey on Wednesday after pushing out rival fighters in fierce clashes, opposition groups and activists said.
The towns, located in Syria's Aleppo province, are the latest prize for Islamic State militants who have carved out a self-styled caliphate across vast swaths of eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq.
Activists said fighters from the group captured the towns of Akhtarin and Turkmanbareh after fierce clashes with mainstream rebels who are fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad. The militants also took a string of nearby villages over which they had been fighting, including Masoudiyeh, Dabiq and Ghouz.
