Kurds, jihadists battle for key Syria town

MURSITPINAR, Turkey: Kurdish militia fought off a fresh assault by the Islamic State (IS) group on a key Syrian town early on Monday, after one desperate woman defender carried out a suicide attack against the jihadists.

IS militants attempted to storm the town of Kobane on the Turkish border from both east and west of a strategic hill to the south, but Kurdish fighters repulsed the attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.