IS oil trade 'worth more than $500m'

The so-call said militants had looteed Islamic State (IS) has made more than $500m trading oil, a US treasury official has said.

Its "primary customer" has been the government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, despite its ongoing battle to overthrow the regime, Adam Szubin told the BBC. IS had also looted up to $1bn from banks in territory it held, he said.

A US-led coalition has been bombing IS targets, including oil facilities, in Syria and Iraq for over a year.

After Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had intelligence that large amounts of oil and petroleum products were moving across the border from Islamic State territories to Turkey. Turkey has denied the accusation furiously.

In an attempt to cut militants' links to the global financial system, Szubin said US had worked with Iraq to close down dozens of bank branches in IS-held territories. Szubind up to $1 billion from bank vaults in Syria and Iraq.