The Syrian border town of Kobane has been hit by the fiercest fighting in days as Kurdish forces repelled advancing fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the levant (ISIl), a group monitoring the violence has said.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 48 mortars had been fired at Kurdish areas in the past two days with two car bombs hitting Kurdish positions on Saturday evening leading to casualties. “We had the most intense clashes of days, perhaps a week last night. [ISIl] attacked from three different sides including the municipality building side and the market place,” Abdulrahman Gok, a local journalist, told the Reuters news agency.
The Observatory also said 70 ISIl fighters had been killed in the past two days, according to sources at the hospital in the nearby town of Tel Abyab, where bodies are taken.Pinpointing military and humanitarian aid from nations in the international struggle against the armed group.The Kurdish fighters, who have been under IS assault for more than a month, weathered fierce street fighting and at least two jehadist suicide bombings but the front line remained unchanged on Sunday, a Kurdish official said.
“(IS) brought in reinforcements... And attacked hard,” Idris Nassen told AFP by telephone. “But thanks to air strikes and (the Kurdish fighters’) response, they did not make any progress.”
The IS fighters suffered heavy losses in their effort to seal the battle for the town, which has become a key prize as it is being fought under the gaze of the world’s press massed just over the border in Turkey.From Saturday into Sunday morning, a total of 31 jihadists died in the battle, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Coalition air strikes killed 15, while another 16 died in the ground fighting, including two suicide bombers.
The Kurdish lost seven fighters, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.