ISIS sets off suicide bombs on Turkey border

ISIS sets off suicide bombs on Turkey border

BEIRUT - Islamic State fighters set off two suicide bombs on the Turkish border with the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani on Saturday amid clashes that have killed at least 30 fighters, a monitoring group said.

Kurdish militia have been holding off Islamic State fighters for more than two months in the battle for the town, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, but neither side has been able to gain a decisive advantage.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State fighters detonated a suicide car bomb at the border crossing at dawn on Saturday and that clashes broke out after.

A second suicide bomber with an explosive vest later blew himself up in the same area, the Observatory said. Clashes also broke out throughout the town itself, and another car bomb was detonated to the south, the Observatory said.

At least 30 fighters from the two sides have been confirmed as killed so far, said Rami Abdulrahman, the Observatory's director. Twenty-one of those were Islamic State fighters, including four suicide bombers. The remaining nine were from the Kurdish forces.

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