Kurdish forces advance in key Syrian town

Beirut, Nov 11 (IANS/EFE) Kurdish forces Tuesday advanced in the southern and southeastern Syrian Kurdish enclave of Kobane, bordering Turkey, during ongoing clashes with the members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, an official said.

Idris Nauman, the deputy minister of foreign affairs in the autonomous enclave, told Efe in a phone call that the Kurds seized control of several positions that used to be held by the IS jihadis in these two areas of the enclave.

Nauman added that the forces of the Kurdish People's Protection Units were launching attacks against the radicals of the IS, in parallel with the airstrikes which are carried out by the US-led international coalition.

While the Kurds are attacking the IS positions with artillery fire in western Kobane, the aircraft of the international coalition launched four air raids against the extremists.

According to Nauman, the offensive has intensified recently, reducing significantly the IS mortar attacks.

The jihadis were surprised by the stiff resistance of the Kurds in Kobane, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, SOHR, cited some sources from the province of Raqaa, one of the main strongholds of the Islamic State in Syria.

The IS has been trying to take control of Kobane since mid-September and the city is completely surrounded by the jihadi radicals except on its northern perimeter which borders Turkey.

--IANS/EFE

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