| By BASSEM MROUE
BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group launched an attack Saturday on the Syrian border town of Kobani from Turkey, a Kurdish official and activists said, although Turkey denied that the fighters had used its territory for the raid.
The assault began when a suicide bomber driving an armored vehicle detonated his explosives on the border crossing between Kobani and Turkey, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria’s powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party.
The Islamic State group “used to attack the town from three sides,” Khalil said. “Today, they are attacking from four sides.”
Turkey, while previously backing the Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad in that country’s civil war, has been hesitant to aid them in Kobani because it fears that could stoke Kurdish ambitions for an independent state.
A Turkish government statement on Saturday confirmed that one of the suicide attacks involved a bomb-loaded vehicle that detonated on the Syrian side of the border. But it denied that the vehicle had crossed into Kobani through Turkey, which would be a first for the extremist fighters.
“Claims that the vehicle reached the border gate by crossing through Turkish soil are a lie,” read the statement released from the government press office at the border town of Suruc. “Contrary to certain claims, no Turkish official has made any statement claiming that the bomb-loaded vehicle had crossed in from Turkey.”
“The security forces who are on alert in the border region have … taken all necessary measures,” the statement continued.
Associated Press journalists saw thick black smoke rise over Kobani during the attack. The sound of heavy gunfire echoed through the surrounding hills as armored vehicles took up positions on the border. The Observatory said heavy fighting also took place southwest of the town where the Islamic State group brought in tanks to reinforce their fighters.
Video from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights purporting to show ISIS militants firing from inside Turkish territory:
Mustafa Bali, a Kobani-based activist, said by telephone that Islamic State group fighters have taken positions in the grain silos on the Turkish side of the border and from there are launching attacks toward the border crossing point. He added that the U.S.-led coalition launched an airstrike Saturday morning on the eastern side of the town.
“It is now clear that Turkey is openly cooperating with Daesh,” Bali said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. Later in the day, he said the situation was relatively calm on the border after a day of heavy clashes.
The Islamic State group claimed three suicide attacks in Kobani’s border crossing point, the SITE Intelligence Group reported. The group, quoting Twitter accounts linked to the militants, said the suicide attacks were carried out by a Saudi and a Turkmen, adding that one of them was driving a Humvee.
The Islamic State group began its Kobani offensive in mid-September, capturing parts of the town as well as dozens of nearby villages. The town later became the focus of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition against the militants.
Kurdish fighters slowly have been advancing in Kobani since late October, when dozens of well-armed Iraqi peshmerga fighters joined fellow Syrian Kurds in the battles. The fighting has killed hundreds of fighters on both sides over the past two months.
The Observatory said Saturday the latest fighting killed at least eight Kurdish fighters and 17 jihadis.
Syria’s Foreign Minister said in a television interview aired Friday night that the U.S.-led coalition’s weeks of airstrikes against militants in Syria had not weakened the Islamic State group. Washington and the U.N. Security Council “should force Turkey to tighten control” of its border in order to help defeat militants, he added.
“Is Daesh today, after two months of coalition airstrikes, weaker? All indications show that it is not weaker,” al-Moallem told Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV.
The Islamic State group has declared a self-styled Islamic caliphate in areas under its control in Iraq and Syria, governing it according to its violent interpretation of Shariah law. The group has carried out mass killings targeting government security forces, ethnic minorities and others against it. Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey.
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Witnesses: ISIS vehicle and members came from Turkish side
ANF / İBRAHİM ASLAN / ERSİN ÇAKSU – KOBANÊ 30.11.2014 11:00:11
Eye witnesses spoke to ANF about the suicide attacks the ISIS gangs carried out in Kobanê after crossing into the town from the Turkish side of the border yesterday.
ISIS gangs targeted Kobanê with multiple suicide car attacks using Turkish soil in the Mürşitpınar crossing area along the border with West Kurdistan, Rojava, early yesterday morning. Two ISIS militants carried out suicide attacks at the scene where their bomb-laden vehicles were detonated.
Fierce clashes broke out in the border area as YPG/YPJ (People’s/Women’s Defense Units) fighters strongly responded and repulsed the attacks. ISIS members who went back to the Turkish side, the building of wheat silos of the TMO (soil products office) very close to the border gate, continued to open fire on YPG/YPJ fighters while Turkish soldiers made no intervention as they attacked Kobanê.
Besides the attack from Turkish side, the ISIS gangs also carried out intense attacks from the eastern, southern and western fronts of Kobanê. The attacks were repelled by YPG/YPJ fighters who also blew up two bomb-laden vehicles of the gangs, and destroyed two of the three tanks they used in the onslaught on the southern front.
While the Prime Ministry Directorate General of Press and Information denied reports about the ISIS gangs using Turkish land to attack Kobanê, arguing that these were all fabricated news, statements of eye witnesses, who include civilians and asayesh (security units) members, do entirely contradict the official statement by Turkish authorities.
Witnesses told that the suicide vehicle came form Turkish land, and ISIS members that launched an attack after the explosions came from near the armored vehicles belonging to Turkish security forces. They also pointed out that the Turkish electricity supply was cut along the Kobanê border just before the attacks by ISIS gangs.
Asayesh officer İsmail who witnessed the attacks in Mürşitpınar border crossing area, said the suicide car was detonated at around 5 o’clock Saturday morning, adding that; “I was at the sentry box at the border gate, together with another friend. The bomb-laden car was detonated soon after crossing swiftly from the border gate. We soon later gathered and moved towards the border gate. There were Turkish armored vehicles across our area and the ISIS members were coming from near them. Battle raged out there between us and the gangs. After bringing a wounded comrade to this side, I got to the top of a building where I saw an ISIS member opening fire from a tree on the Turkish side. I fired back on him and also saw a Turkish armored vehicle entering that area three times and people getting out those vehicles.”
Another asayesh officer Elî who was at his position in Kaniya Kurda region on the borderline at the time of the attack, stated that it was not possible for the gangs to come from that side, and that there was no road in that area. Elî told that; “The electricity was unusually cut along the entire borderline beginning from the Mahser village as of 4 in the morning. There was no power cut in other areas.”
Another asayesh officer Mihemed Heqî who was on the watch when the suicide car was detonated, and also suffered an injury in the attack, told the followings; “As my turn of duty was near, which is from 4 to 6 am, they were already attacking us with mortars and heavy weapons from the southern front. Not long after I took over the watch, I heard a sound of chain and the sound of our gate being knocked over. When I looked at the direction where the sound came from, I saw a car coming from Turkey’s side crossing the border gate and moving towards us. It turned the first street and detonated soon after crossing into our side. Houses around us were all demolished as we didn’t understand what was happening. The armored vehicles of Turkey were standing right across us. The suicide car came from near them and there were around 50 other ISIS members there.”
Mihemed Heqî gave the following details regarding the suicide car of the ISIS gangs; “It was a green military vehicle with a heavy weapon installed on it. I saw it as it came from Turkey’s side, crossed the border gate and detonated soon after passing by me. The car came from Turkey side but mortars were being fired from the southern side.”
Another eye witness Doctor Menav Kitkanî who was also on the watch when the attack was carried out told that; “I was trying to see which area had been hit by their mortars when a vehicle coming from the border gate broke into our side and detonated behind our building. I myself saw the car coming from Turkey’s side.”
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