Islamic State pounds Syrian border town

Jihadi group tries to wrest Kobani from Kurds; six Iraqi soldiers said executed publicly

By AP 5 October 2014, 3:27 pm

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Smoke rises after a shell landed in Kobani in Syria as fighting intensified between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, as seen from Mursitpinar near Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, Sunday, October 5, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Syrian activists said Sunday that Islamic State fighters were shelling a beleaguered Kurdish town in northern Syria on the Turkish border.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the extremists fired at least 10 rockets Sunday on the town of Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab. The Islamists also fired tank shells and mortars as they try to break the Kurds’ hold on the town.

The Observatory said heavy clashes overnight, as well as US-led coalition airstrikes on Islamic State positions around Kobani, killed at least 16. At least 11 Kurdish militiamen were also killed the in the fighting.

From the Turkish side of the border, the heavy thud of shelling could be heard Sunday from Kobani, and pillars of smoke billowed over the town.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, witnesses said Islamic State members have publicly killed six Iraqi soldiers in Anbar province, where it continues to make gains despite an expanding US-led campaign of airstrikes.

Witnesses say the soldiers — one in uniform and five in civilian clothes — were lined up against a wall Sunday in the town of Hit and shot in the head. They say the Islamic State group also bombed a police station in Hit, located some 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of the capital, Baghdad.

The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.

The Islamic State group stormed Hit on Thursday, its latest victory against the embattled Iraqi military in Anbar. The US has launched airstrikes on Islamic State group positions in Anbar.