Beirut:At least 23 people were killed Thursday in clashes between Islamic State (IS) militants and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units near the Syrian city of Kobani on the border with Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
Sixteen IS militants were killed in the village of Qere Halenc, after coming under attack from a nearby hill.
Seven Syrian Kurdish fighters also died in clashes in southeast of Kobani, local defence chief Esmat Sheikh Hasan told EFE by telephone.
Despite heavy bombing by the US-led international coalition against the IS positions, militants have reached the gates of Kobani after a two-week siege.
The IS offensive on Kobani, one of the main Kurdish strongholds in Syria, began Sep 16 and they have since managed to control some 350 villages on the outskirts of the town.