Members of the Islamic State group have acknowledged for the first time that they were defeated in the Syrian town of Kobani.

In a video released by the pro-IS Aamaq News Agency late Friday, two fighters said airstrikes by the US-led coalition were the main reason why they were forced to withdraw from Kobani.

On Monday, activists and Kurdish officials said the town was cleared of IS fighters, who once held nearly half of the town.

The failure to capture Kobani was a major blow to the extremists, whose hopes for an easy victory dissolved into a costly siege under airstrikes by coalition forces and an assault by Kurdish militiamen.