Fighting in Syrian border city 'most intense in days'

The fiercest fighting in days shook the Syrian border city of Kobane overnight when Islamic State fighters attacked Kurdish forces with mortars and car bombs, sources in the city said on Sunday.

The Islamic State group, which controls much of Syria and Iraq, fired 44 mortars at Kurdish parts of the town on Saturday, some of which fell inside nearby Turkey, observers said. It said four more mortars were fired on Sunday.

The monthlong battle for Kobane has ebbed and flowed. A week ago, Kurds warned the town would soon fall and the US-led coalition stepped up airstrikes on Islamic State, which wants to take Kobane to consolidate its position in northern Syria.

The coalition has been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq since August and extended the campaign to Syria in September after Islamic State made huge territorial gains.

Raids on Islamic State jihadists around Kobane have been stepped up, with the fate of the city seen as an important test for US President Barack Obama's campaign against the Islamists.

"We had the most intense clashes of days, perhaps a week last night. (The Islamic State) attacked from three different sides including the municipality building side and the market place," said Abdulrahman Gok, a journalist in Kobane.

Car bombs

"The clashes did not stop until the morning. We have had an early morning walk inside the city and have seen lots of damaged cars on the streets and unexploded mortar shells," he said.

Two Islamic State car bombs hit Kurdish positions on Saturday evening leading to casualties, observers said. A cloud of black smoke towered over Kobane on Sunday.

A fighter from the female units of the main Syrian Kurdish militia in Kobane, YPG, said Kurdish fighters were able to detonate the car bombs before they reached their targets.

"Last night there were clashes all across Kobane. ... This morning the clashes are still ongoing," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Seventy Islamic State fighters had been killed in the past two days, according to sources at a hospital in the nearby town of Tel Abyab, where Islamic State bodies are taken. Reuters cannot independently confirm the reports due to security restrictions.

The Islamic State has also used executions throughout its campaigns in Syria and Iraq, killing hundreds of its enemies and civilians who are opposed to its cause, according to Islamic State videos and statements.

Hundreds of thousands have fled the group's advance. Turkey hosts about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, including almost 200,000 Syrian Kurds from Kobane.

Ankara has refused to rearm beleaguered Kurdish fighters, who complain they are at a huge disadvantage in the face of Islamic State's weaponry, much of it seized from the Iraqi military when IS took the city of Mosul in June.

(China Daily 10/20/2014 page12)