WASHINGTON, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - Several hundred Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed in US airstrikes near the Syrian border town of Kobani, Pentagon said on Wednesday.
“We believe we have killed several hundred ISIL fighters in and around Kobani,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby.
Kirby said IS militants were converging on the town which has resulted in the concentration of bombing raids in and around the city.
Kirby confirmed the majority of strikes against IS fighters have been to the south and southwest of Kobani where US military officials believe the fighters are dug in.
The IS, a Sunni jihadist group that has seized vast areas in Iraq and Syria, has besieged Kobani for the past few weeks. Some 400 people have died in clashes between IS and Kurdish fighters in Kobani, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The extremist group announced in June the establishment of an Islamic caliphate over its captured territories.
