Local Editor

ISIL

A suicide bomber from the ISIL extremist group detonated his explosives-laden vehicle in Kobani on Monday, as fierce fighting with Kurdish fighters resumed in the northern Syrian town near the Turkish border.

The sound of explosions and occasional gunfire could be heard across the border from Kobani a day after Kurdish fighters managed to slow the advance of the terrorist group.

Activists said ISIL militants were carrying out a three-pronged attack from the eastern side of the town and that clashes were ongoing in the southern part.

The Syrian Kurdish enclave has been the scene of heavy fighting since late last month, with the better-armed ISIL terrorists determined to capture the border post.

The Britain-based Syrian opposing Observatory said an ISIL suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives in the northern part of Kobani near the border with Turkey on Monday.

It said the car was headed to the border crossing between Kobani and Turkey. A Kurdish activist in the town, Farhad Shami, said the vehicle appeared to have exploded prematurely. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.

Shami said coalition aircraft were flying over Kobani and had struck 10 times Sunday and Monday.

Fierce clashes on the Turkish border are going on as Ankara denied allowing Washington to use its bases against the ISIL terrorist group. US officials had earlier said Turkey would also host training for "moderate" Syrian rebels, in the hopes of finally creating a force capable of tackling ISIL on the ground.

"There is no new agreement with the United States about Incirlik," a Turkish government official told AFP of an air base in southern Turkey that the US wants to use to launch air strikes. "Negotiations are continuing" based on Turkish conditions previously laid out, the official added.

With the ISIL advancing on its doorstep, NATO member Turkey has come under intense pressure to take action as part of a US-led coalition that has been carrying out air strikes in Syria and Iraq.