Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday warned that the Syrian border town of Kobane is on the verge of falling to jihadists, saying a ground operation was needed to defeat the militants.
“The terror will not be over… unless we cooperate for a ground operation,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in the eastern city of Gaziantep, adding that air strikes were not enough on their own.
“Months have passed but no results have been achieved. Kobane is about to fall.”
Meanwhile, inside the besieged town, also know as Ain al-Arab, Kurdish militia backed by US-led air strikes fought fierce street battles Tuesday with advancing jihadists.
IS fighters three-week assault on the town has left hundreds reported dead.
The fall of Kobane to the Islamic State (IS) group would mark a major victory for the jihadists, who are fighting for a long stretch of the border with Turkey for their self-proclaimed “Islamic caliphate”.
At least 412 people, more than half of them jihadists, have been killed in and around Kobane since mid-September, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It warned that the inaccessibility of the area meant that the full toll was probably much higher.
With the fight for Kobane entering a crucial phase, the IS militants fought to extend their foothold into new areas in the south and west of the town, a day after piercing its Kurdish defences.
Gunfire, explosions and the roar of fighter jets were heard from the Turkish side of the border, while a Kurdish flag was seen flying in the centre of Kobane, according to an AFP journalist.
The IS jihadists “are trying hard to capture the city”, said Idris Nahsen, a Kurdish official still in Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab.
He said they were meeting resistance from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units.
“We need help from the international community,” Nahsen told AFP by telephone. “Either we finish them (IS) or they will finish us.”
IS fighters have seized a number of buildings in south and west Kobane, including a hospital under construction, according to the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group.
Kurdish fighters have ordered civilians to evacuate the town, after the jihadists planted their black flags on its eastern side and entered Kobane on Monday.