(New York Times) Karam Shoumali and Anne Barnard - Islamic State militants pushed on Monday into the eastern edge of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish border, raising fears of a massacre of civilians, Kurdish fighters and activists said. Rooz Bahjat, a senior security official with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, said that as many as 9,000 Islamic State fighters were closing in on Kobani, which has given shelter to internally displaced Syrians from a wide range of ethnic groups. Video from the front lines in recent days has shown fighters for the Islamic State advancing across fields in formation, well equipped in camouflage flak vests. Some militants have posted pictures of themselves holding the severed heads of what they say are female Kurdish fighters. Turkish forces have prevented Turkish and Syrian Kurds from joining the fight.
2014-10-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive