Asia

Home page

Asia

Islamic State tightens grip on Syrian border town, shells hit Turkey

26 September 2014 18:28 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Islamic State fighters tightened their siege of the strategic town of Kobani on Syria's border with Turkey on Friday, pushing back Kurdish forces and sending at least two shells into Turkish territory, witnesses said, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Several hundred unarmed protesters who had gathered on the Turkish side of the border in solidarity with the Syrian Kurds broke through a barbed wire fence and rushed towards Kobani in an apparent bid to help defend it.

Islamic State launched its assault on Kobani more than a week ago, besieging it from three sides. More than 140,000 Kurds have fled the town and surrounding villages since last Friday, crossing into Turkey.

U.S.-led air strikes have targeted Islamic State fighters elsewhere in Syria but some Kurdish military officials have said they have made the situation in Kobani more precarious, pushing the Sunni insurgents towards the Turkish border.

Islamic State fighters appeared to have taken control of a hill 10 km (6 miles) west of Kobani from where the YPG, the main Kurdish armed group in northern Syria, had been attacking them in recent days.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, said Islamic State fighters had also taken control of a village around 7 km to the east of Kobani.