This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

American-led forces have launched 12 air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria since Friday, all but one of them near the contested city of Kobani, the US military said on Saturday.

The strikes near Kobani hit two large Isis units and destroyed 15 of its fighting positions, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. They also destroyed an Isis building and one tactical unit, it said.

Another strike in Syria, near al-Hasakah, destroyed two Isis guard facilities, the statement said.

The US and partner nations also launched three air strikes in Iraq, striking an Isis-controlled bridge near Erbil, destroying two militant vehicles near Ramadi and two Isis fighting positions near Mosul, the task force said.

Air strikes began in Iraq on 8 August and Syria on 23 September, after Isis fighters took control of large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Separately, Syrian state television and a group monitoring the conflict said three Isis activists had been killed in the east of the country, the third attack on the movement in the area reported this week.

The latest incident occurred in or around the town of al-Boleel in Deir al-Zor province – not far from where a senior figure in Isis’s self-declared police force was said to have been killed on Tuesday and at least three members of the group were reported abducted on Wednesday.

Syrian state TV said the latest attack was carried out by “the popular resistance in the eastern region”. An Isis vehicle was targeted and three people inside were killed, the TV station reported in a headline flashed on screen.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that draws on a network of activists to track the war, said preliminary reports indicated that three Isis activists had been killed. It identified the target as Isis’ office in Al-Boleel. The killings occurred after midnight on Friday, it said.

“After the attack, Islamic State carried out an arrest campaign,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Observatory. He said Islamic State had confiscated internet equipment in the area, hindering the Observatory’s reporting.

Isis controls nearly all of Deir al-Zor province, which stretches from its stronghold in the Syrian province of Raqqa to the border with Iraq and links together its self-declared caliphate in the two countries.

An Egyptian man, who was a senior member of Isis’s police force, was found decapitated in the town of Al Mayadeen, the Observatory said on Tuesday. “This is evil, you Sheikh” was written on his body and a cigarette was in his mouth.

Islamic State bans smoking in areas under its control, in line with its strict interpretation of Islam.

The ambush reported by the Observatory on Wednesday targeted a vehicle used by the Isis police force in al-Mayadeen. Unidentified gunmen abducted at least three Isis activists who had been in the vehicle, Abdulrahman said.

As with other areas under its rule, Isis has crushed any dissent in Deir al-Zor province, where the group’s control expanded rapidly after it seized Mosul in June. Isis executed 700 members of one rebellious tribe, the Sheitaat, the Observatory reported in August.

Unidentified opponents of Isis have mounted attacks on the group, picking off its activists whenever they can in a violent campaign against its rule.