IS fighters ‘capture Syria Kurds HQ’

A picture taken from Turkey shows smoke rising after an airstrike by an alleged alliance war plane targeting the Islamic State in the west of Kobane, Syria. Picture: TOLGA BOZOGLU

A picture taken from Turkey shows smoke rising after an airstrike by an alleged alliance war plane targeting the Islamic State in the west of Kobane, Syria. Picture: TOLGA BOZOGLU

Published Oct 10, 2014

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Beirut -

Islamic State group militants overran the headquarters of Kurdish forces defending the battleground Syrian border town of Kobane on Friday, a monitoring group said.

“The jihadists have taken control of the headquarters building,” used by the Kurdish military and civilian authorities, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Fierce fighting had raged for the complex throughout the morning after IS militants captured part of it used by the Kurds' asayesh internal security force on Thursday.

“IS now controls 40 percent of the town,” after entering eastern districts on Monday and attacking from the west and the south, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

“The capture of the headquarters will allow the jihadists to advance on the border post with Turkey to the north of the town,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

“If they achieve that, they will have the Kurdish forces inside Kobane completely surrounded,” he added. - Sapa-AFP

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