More attacks in Kobani

Militants from the "Islamic State" group launched up to four suicide attacks in Kobani on Saturday, including a car bombing on the border crossing between Kobani and Turkey. It is believed to be the first attack on the Kurdish-controlled post.

"Clashes broke out for the first time in the area after two jihadist attacks at dawn on the border post separating Turkey and Kobani," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said 39 people - 28 IS jihadists and 11 Kurdish forces - had been killed in Kobani over the past day. The AP news agency reported thick black smoke over Kobani and the sound of heavy gunfire through the surrounding hills.

Kurdish officials and the Observatory said the border post attacks were launched from Turkish soil - a claim strenuously denied by Turkey.

"Claims that the car involved in the IS attack on the Mursitpinar border post came from Turkey are lies," Turkish media quoted the army as saying.

The Turkish government confirmed that one of the suicide attacks involved a car bomb on the Syrian side of the border post - but denied that it crossed over from Turkey. If that happened, it would be a first for the extremist fighters.

Turkey has long dismissed claims it has not done enough to secure its border with Syria, allowing the free flow of jihadists across the area.

The Islamic State offensive on Kobani - the third largest Kurdish town in Syria - and nearby villages has killed hundreds, according to activists, and caused more than 200,000 people to flee into Turkey. The militant group has conquered broad stretches of land in Iraq and Syria and has brutalized both Muslims and religious minorities in the areas it occupies.

Backed by US-led air strikes, Kurdish fighters and Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces have so far prevented a full takeover of the town.

jr/lw (AP, Reuters, AFP)