Dozens escape ISIS-run jail in Syria

Around 95 captives have escaped a prison controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group in northern Syria, a group monitoring the war said on Tuesday, saying the escapees included about 30 Kurdish fighters.

The jailbreak happened in the town of al-Bab, 30 km south of the Turkish frontier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

ISIS controls tracts of territory across northern Syria and runs its own prisons, courts and other facilities in what it describes as an Islamic caliphate extending into Iraq.

Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led air strikes have been trying to drive back Islamic State across northern Syria.

The escapees also included Syrian civilians and members of Islamic battalions opposed to the more hardline militant ISIS group.

ISIS has put the town on high alert and has been using loudspeakers to tell citizens to capture the escapees, the Observatory said, citing people on the ground.

Al-Bab was the site of ISIS infighting over the weekend when several of its members broke out of another jail in the town and tried to head for the Turkish border.

The group, which included mainly European fighters, was stopped by other Islamic State members in clashes that killed at least nine, the Observatory said.