Turkey-backed Syrian rebels have reportedly taken over the northern Syrian town of Dabiq from Islamic State (Isis) on Sunday (16 October). The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, "Rebels captured Dabiq after IS [Daesh] members withdrew from the area".

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The monitoring group's head Rami Abdel Rahman said that the rebels seized control of the nearby town of Sawran. Dabiq is around 10km (six miles) from the border with Turkey.

The town of Dabiq is of great importance to the jihadist group because of a Sunni prophecy which states that it will be the place of an end-of-times battle between the West and Islam.

Fastaqim Union, a rebel faction supported by Turkey said that Dabiq had fallen "after fierce clashes with Daesh". According to Turkey's state run Anadolu news agency, the rebels were working to disassemble mines laid by fleeing IS fighters. During the fighting on Saturday, at least nine Syrian rebels were killed while 28 others were injured.

In August, Turkey had launched Operation Euphrates Shield to oust Isis terrorists from the border between Syria and Turkey.

The extremist group is believed to have stationed around 1,200 of its fighters in Dabiq, the Observatory said.