US-led raids kill 32 IS fighters in Syria as Assad slams UK vote

At least 32 Islamic State group fighters were killed on Sunday in apparent US-led coalition raids on Syria as President Bashar al-Assad slammed Britain's decision to participate in air strikes, AFP reported.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said at least 32 fighters had been killed in some 15 strikes on the group's stronghold of Raqa province in northern Syria.

The monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said at least 40 jihadists were also wounded in the strikes, which hit IS headquarters and bases to the north, east and southeast of provincial capital Raqa city.

The city is the de-facto Syrian capital of the group, which calls the large stretches of territory it controls in Syria and neighbouring Iraq an Islamic "caliphate".

Abdel Rahman said the casualty figures were collected from a single hospital and the final toll from the air strikes could rise.