IS militants targeted in fiery air strike seen from Turkish border

Oct 24, 2014

MURSITPINAR: Coalition aircraft targeted Islamic State (IS) militants near the town of Kobane in an airstrike seen from the Turkish border Thursday, with the jihadists running away from the bombing raid, an AFP photographer reported. 

Four IS militants were walking around the Tilsehir hill in the western part of the besieged Syrian town before the air raid at around 6:00 pm local time, the photographer said. 

Having heard the sound of fighter jets overhead, the militants could be clearly seen running down the hill to hide in trenches most probably dug by Kurdish fighters who previously controlled the territory. 

After the bombardment, the photographer saw militants running away in a sign that Kurdish fighters had taken back control of the hill. 

IS and Kurdish fighters have regularly traded territory during the fight for the town, with neither side able to gain a decisive edge in the battle. 

US-led air strikes in Syria were reported Thursday to have killed more than 500 jihadists in a month, and reinforcements of Kurdish peshmarga forces from northern Iraq could potentially give another boost to the defenders of Kobane.