I.S. tank fire threatens Kurdish stronghold in Syria
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An image made available by Jihadist media outlet Welayat Raqa on Jun 30, 2014, allegedly shows a member of the IS (Islamic state) militant group parading with a tank in a street in the northern rebel-held Syrian city of Raqa.
Tank fire from Islamic State militants slammed into the town of Kobani today, threatening to drive thousands more from their homes and deprive the Kurds of one of their few remaining strongholds in Syria.
“They are firing tanks and guns toward the city,” Ismail Kaplan, a local Kurdish politician said by phone. “Clashes are taking place just outside the city limits and they are firing into the town. We can hear big booms and see smoke billowing from buildings.”
Kaplan spoke by phone from the Turkish border town of Suruc, across Kobani.
Islamic State militants have been trying to capture Kobani for nearly three weeks as Kurdish forces struggle to stop its advance from the east, south and west, according to Kurdish officials. Imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan said yesterday that if Kobani falls, the peace process with Kurds within Turkey would collapse.
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