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The Islamic State (IS) militant group staged an explosion in the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobane on the Syrian-Turkish borders on Wednesday, causing unknown losses or casualties, according to the oppositional Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The blast was carried out by an IS suicide bomber riding an explosive-laden truck that went off in the Industrial City of Kobane, the Observatory said, stopping short of giving further details.
It added that clashes were still incessant between the IS and the Kurdish militants of the People's Protection Unites, or YPG, in three districts in the strategic city.
Earlier in the day, the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition struck IS positions on the southeastern outskirts of Kobane, according to the report.
IS militants stormed parts of Kobane, but were forced later to retreat under the strikes of the U.S. coalition, activists said, amid reports that the YPG and other affiliated Kurdish militants have declared the city as a military zone.
The Observatory said well over 400 people, including fighters, had been killed in the weeks-long clashes between the IS terror group and Kurdish militants in Kobane. The death toll included at least 219 IS fighters and 163 YPGs.
The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition has reportedly intensified strikes against IS positions around Kobane over the last 24 hours, in a bid to aid the battered Kurdish militants who have managed to defend their city for over three consecutive weeks against falling to the IS. The coalition's previous strikes had largely failed to stem the momentum of IS fighters in their crushing offensive against Kobane.
Kobane, also known as Ayn al-Arab and home to over 400,000 people, has attracted hundreds of Kurdish fighters to stream through Iraqi and Turkish borders to aid their fellow Kurds, who have seen one of the most ferocious and relentless shelling by the IS against the heart of the city.
Since the IS unleashed its attack on Sept. 16, they have captured more than 300 villages around Kobane and pushed over 160, 000 people to flee toward neighboring Turkey.
Kurdish activists have repeatedly warned against the grave repercussions of possible city fall to the IS, noting that the IS would commit mass massacres against the civilians there. The IS capture of Kobane would also enable it to control a considerable stretch of territories on the Syrian-Turkish border. Enditem
