Kurdish fighters repel fresh ISIL attack on Kobani

Kurdish fighters have repelled a fresh attack by ISIL Takfiri militants on the Syrian border town of Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani to Kurds.

A UK-based Syrian opposition group said on Monday that the ISIL militants attempted to storm the northern town of Kobani, but were driven back by Kurdish forces.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fierce clashes erupted overnight, with the town coming under sporadic mortar fire.

It added that at least 16 ISIL militants were killed in the fighting as well as following airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition. At least 11 Kurdish fighters also lost their lives in the clashes.

The ISIL militants have been trying to seize Kobani over the past three weeks.

The opposition group said on Sunday that the Takfiris seized part of a strategic hill overlooking the southern entrance to the besieged Kurdish town on Syria’s border with Turkey late on Saturday.

Earlier, a spokesman for the local Kurdish fighters said the ISIL was just one kilometer from the town, and that the US-led airstrikes had failed to interrupt their advance.

He said the Kurdish fighters were in need of ground support, including heavy weapons and ammunition.

Syrian Kurdish fighters also have called on all Kurds across the region to take up arms against the ISIL militants.

This is while the Turkish government does not allow Kurdish fighters to cross the border into Syria and join the fight against the ISIL militants. Turkey is said to be among the regional countries supporting ISIL.

The weeks-long intense battle for the strategic town has forced nearly 200,000 people to take refuge in Turkey.