3,250 killed in battles to free Raqqa

As many as 3,250 people, including 1,130 civilians, have been killed during the four-month-long battles in Syria's Raqqa, a monitor group reported on Tuesday.

Children and women were among the killed civilians, as the rest of the death toll is for IS militants and SDF fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said 80 percent of Raqqa has been destroyed due to the battles, which ended on Tuesday with the SDF capture of the city.

Talal Silo, the spokesman of the SDF, told Xinhua that the military operations in Raqqa have ended, adding that the city is liberated from IS, but the fighters are still mopping up the city in search of mines and possible sleeper cells.

IS declared Raqqa as its de facto capital in 2014, after announcing their self-styled caliphate in Syria.