Kurds battle for key Syria town

                    

AFP, Oct. 05, 2014 - Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes battled the Islamic State group for a key Syrian town Sunday.
IS fighters seized part of a strategic hill overlooking the town of Kobane late on Saturday, a monitor said, but their progress was slowed by new strikes from the coalition of Washington and Arab allies.
In a sign of the Kurdish defenders’ determination to keep the jihadists at bay, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the woman suicide bomber blew herself up at an IS position east of Kobane which caused death among ISIS.
The border town of Kobane has become a crucial battleground in the international fight against IS, which sparked further outrage this weekend with the release of a video showing the beheading of Briton Alan Henning.
Fighting raged around Kobane as the jihadists pressed their nearly three-week siege of the town, said the Britain-based Observatory.
In a statement, US Central Command said the US military carried out three air strikes in Syria on Saturday, while fighter jets, bombers and helicopters were used in six assaults against IS in Iraq on Sunday.