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Jubilant residents began trickling back to Kobani Tuesday after Kurdish fighters drove ISIS from the Syrian border town, which became a major symbol of resistance against the jihadis, AFP reported.

But officials warned that ISIS militants were still present in villages around Kobani, and that massive reconstruction was needed in the devastated town after more than four months of fighting.

Its recapture has deprived ISIS of a strategic prize on the frontier with Turkey to add to its self-styled caliphate spanning swathes of Syria and Iraq.

An estimated 200,000 people living in Kobani and surrounding villages had fled across the border into Turkey after the fight for the town began September 16.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) announced the "liberation" of Kobani Monday.

"Our forces fulfilled the promise of victory," the militia said in a statement, cautioning that fighting in the area was not over yet.

"The process to ultimately liberate Kobani canton [region] is ahead of us. We pledge that we will successfully carry out this promise as well."