Kobani fighting death toll ‘over 800’

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 800 people have been killed during ongoing clashes between Kurdish fighters and Takfiri ISIL militants in the Syrian border town of Kobani.

The Britain-based monitoring group said on Sunday that 481 ISIL terrorists have been killed in exchange of fire with Kurdish forces, while 313 Kurds have lost their lives fighting to defend Kobani, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab.

The figures do not include ISIL losses to US-led airstrikes, which the Pentagon alleges to stand at “several hundred.”

Also 21 civilians have been killed in Kobani ground fighting.

Meanwhile, the first contingent of forces from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), known as Peshmerga, will head for Kobani on Sunday.

According to Kurdish media, 150 Peshmerga soldiers – led by Sihad Barzani, the brother of the KRG President Massoud Barzani and the commander of the region’s artillery brigade, will operate heavy weapons to provide cover for Syrian Kurdish fighters defending Kobani.

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.

The ISIL advance in the region has forced tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee into Turkey, which is a stone’s throw from Kobani.

MP/HJL/SS