Syria: Kurdish fighters capture key area in Kobane after heavy fighting with Islamic State militants
Kurdish fighters have advanced in the northern Syrian town of Kobani after heavy fighting with Islamic State militants, local officials and activists say.
Kobane official Idriss Nassan and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian Kurdish forces had captured the so-called security quarter, which houses the police headquarters and other government buildings.
The IS group stormed the security quarter on October 10 but later lost parts of it in a Kurdish counter-offensive.
Kurdish fighters have been slowly advancing in Kobane with the support of Iraqi peshmerga forces. The US-led coalition has also played a key role, carrying out waves of air strikes against IS positions in and around the town.