Islamic State advances on Kurdish town in Syria after U.S

                      MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT  - Islamic State has reinforced fighters who are

battling Kurdish forces for control of a Syrian town at the border with Turkey, a

redeployment triggered by U.S.-led air strikes on the group elsewhere, a Kurdish military

official said.

                      Ocalan Iso, deputy leader of the Kurdish forces defending the town of Kobani at

the Turkish border, said more Islamic State fighters and tanks had arrived since the U.S.-led

coalition began air strikes on the group on Tuesday.

                     The number of their fighters has increased, the number of their tanks has

increased since the bombardment of Raqqa," Iso told Reuters by telephone. He repeated

calls for the U.S.-led coalition to expand its air strikes to Islamic State positions near

Kobani, which is also known as Ayn al-Arab.

"Kobani is in danger,"

                     The U.S.-led air strikes on Islamic State in Syria have so far targeted the

provinces of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Hasakah. Islamic State launched a major offensive

against Kobani last week, forcing nearly 140,000 Syrian Kurds to flee across the border into

Turkey within days - the largest and fastest exodus of civilians since the Syrian conflict

began in 2011.

                     Iso said Islamic State fighters had advanced to within 8 km (5 miles) from the

southern periphery of Kobani - closer than they have been at any stage in the latest

offensive.

                     "We call on American forces to hit their positions. They are 8 km from Kobani.

They were 25 km away before,".

                      The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the Syrian

conflict, earlier reported air strikes on Islamic State positions to the west of Kobani by

warplanes that appeared to cross from Turkey.

                      But Kurdish officials in Kobani could not confirm the report, and Turkey said

neither its air space nor a U.S. air base in the southern Turkish town of Incirlik had been

used in the air strikes.

                     A group of several dozen Syrian Kurds who had fled the fighting watched from

a hillside on the Turkish side of the border as Kurdish fighters battled Islamic State

militants in a cluster of villages called Siftek. The sound of sporadic artillery and gunfire

echoed around the hills.

                    The Kurds appeared to be firing mortars from the back of a truck into a village

where Islamic State had taken up positions.

                     Because of the bombing in Raqqa, Islamic State has taken all of their weapons

and brought them here. There are more and more Islamic State fighters in the last two days,

they have brought all their forces here," said Ahmed Hassan, 60, a Syrian Kurd who fled to

Turkey with his family.

                    They have heavy weapons. We are running away from them. YPG haven't got

heavy weapons. That's why we need help," he said, referring to the main Kurdish armed

group.

                   Idris Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in a Kurdish administration

controlling the Kobani area, said Islamic State remained around 15 km from the town in the

 east and west but had advanced in the south to within 10 km after heavy clashes with

Kurdish forces.