ISIS fighters are given 'passports to paradise' in a desperate bid to convince them they will be rewarded with virgins in the afterlife

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ISIS militants have been issuing 'passports to heaven' to encourage members to carry out suicide attacks and keep control of its self-declared capital, Raqqa.

Copies of the passports were discovered by Syrian Defence Forces in newly liberated neighbourhoods of the northern Syrian city, and photos of the documents were posted to social media.

Brainwashed extremists believe that they will be rewarded with virgins in paradise if they die protecting the Islamic State.

ISIS has handed out documents reading 'passports to heaven' to motivate fighters to carry out suicide attacks in hopes of convincing them they will be sent to 'paradise' if they do so.

The professionally printed green and gold books contain scriptures from the Koran in English and Arabic to encourage fighters to carry out attacks using explosive belts or driving bomb-laden cars into crowded locations, according to the Russian TV channel RT Arabic.

On the front of the passport says 'No God but Allah, Muhammed is the Messenger of God' and 'Passport to Paradise'.

By giving out the documents, ISIS is convincing the fighters that they will have a guaranteed trip to heaven if they become martyrs.

The passports do not, however, contain any personal information about the holder of the document.

Instead they feature the different names of Heaven and Hell in Arabic.

They say that fighters are not allowed to travel to hell, but will be able to reach heaven.

ISIS recently exploded a bomb outside an ice cream shop in Baghdad, killing 15 people and injuring another 50.

Meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish forces say they have seized a new district from the Islamic State group in its self-declared capital, Raqqa.

Cihan Shekh Ehmed, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-backed militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the group's fighters seized the western district of al-Qadisiya from IS on Monday.

Assisted by airstrikes from the US-led coalition, the SDF has been slowly advancing against IS in Raqqa since launching its offensive in early June after encircling the city.

Raqqa is the capital of the extremist group's self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate, which it declared in 2014 in parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.

IS has suffered a series of setbacks in recent months at the hands of an array of Syrian and Iraqi forces.