Islamic State Advances Deeper Into Kobani

BEIRUT, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters advanced deeper into the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border on Friday, taking almost complete control of an area where the local Kurdish administration is based, a group monitoring the violence reported.


"They have taken at least 40 percent (of the town)," Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said by telephone.

Islamic State fighters were now in almost complete control of the "security quarter," which is home to the administrative buildings used by the local government, he said.

A Kurdish military official speaking from Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, said there was fighting between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters next to a building used by Kurdish internal security forces, but denied any major advance by the group.

Ocalan Iso, deputy head of the Kurdish forces, said Islamic State was still bombarding the town center with mortars, showing that its fighters had not extended their control over more than 20 percent of the town. "There are fierce clashes and they are bombing the center of Kobani from afar," he said by telephone. (Reporting by Tom Perry/Laila Bassam; editing by Anna Willard)

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 Turkish Kurds pictured on the outskirts of Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border, as smoke rises in the background from a strike on Kobani, Oct. 7, 2014. 

 

 

 

 Smoke rises after an airstrike in Kobani, Syria as fighting intensifies between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, as seen from Mursitpinar in the outskirts of Suruc, Turkey, Oct. 7, 2014. 

 

 

 Turkish Kurds run from tear gas fired by Turkish forces on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border,

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish Kurds walk as tanks in the background hold their positions on a hilltop in the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border

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