SANLIURFA, Turkey
The ongoing clashes between Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, and Kurdish fighters have intensified in the central and eastern parts of the Syrian town of Kobani on Tuesday, an AA correspondent reported.
The two sides are shelling each other's positions in the Syrian border town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, said the correspondent reporting from the Suruc district in the southeastern Sanliurfa province in Turkey.
A black cloud of smoke can be seen from the hills overlooking the town besieged by the ISIL militants as street clashes have also intensified.
Kobani has witnessed fierce gun battles between ISIL militants, who control large areas of Iraq and Syria, and Kurdish fighters since mid-September.
Despite airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition hitting ISIL positions close to Turkish border gate of Mursitpinar, Kurdish groups have failed to fully control the town and drive the militants away.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq pledged to help defend the town. Turkish authorities had previously said they would provide access into Kobani through Turkey.
The Kurdish Regional Government is set to send its peshmerga forces to fight alongside with other Kurdish groups against the militants.
"All preparations are complete and the peshmerga will leave as soon as possible to help defend Kobani," said Halgurt Hikmet, the spokesman for the ministry of peshmerga affairs said.
Several Kurdish sources, who asked not to be named, said peshmerga forces would fly from the capital of northern Iraq, Erbil, to the southeastern Turkish province of Sanliurfa. They will then proceed to cross over into Kobani.
The town is currently being defended by the People’s Protection Units, the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The PKK has waged a decades-long separatist fight against the Turkish army and is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
Relations between the Democratic Union Party and other Kurdish groups in the region, including the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, have generally been tense.
www.aa.com.tr/en
