ISIS militants launch fierce offensive on Kobane casualties

[Anthea]

ARA News

ISIS militants launch fierce offensive on Kobane, casualties reported

Radical group of the Islamic State (ISIS) launched a new offensive on Kobane city in northern Syria, killing and wounding scores of civilians, local sources reported on Thursday.

ISIS militants bombed the western suburb of Kobane, which falls user the control of the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG). At least four citizens were killed and over a dozen others injured in the bombardment.

Speaking to ARA News in Kobane, rights activist Anas Mohammed said that ISIS shelled areas in western Kobane with homemade rockets, targeting residential buildings in al-Qibba village near the township of Shuyoukh.

“A number of rockets hit houses in the Qibba village, causing the death and the injury of over ten civilians,” he reported.

The casualties included children and women. “Hadlah Mahmoud and her daughter Hala Hussein, 5, lost their lives in the bombing, while Khadija Hussein, and Noor Mohammad, 7, were injured in the attack.” the source said. “Several victims are still stranded under the rubble of destroyed buildings.”

A team of volunteers from the Amal hospital in Kobane continued searching for survivors under the ruins.

This comes as mutual bombardment and clashes continue between the Kurdish YPG fighters–in cooperation with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)– and ISIS militants at several locations near the Euphrates River in western Kobane.

Two weeks ago, Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) were able to kill five suicide bombers from the extremist group near Kobane in the Syrian province of Aleppo, according to military sources.

The ISIS-led suicide operations came ahead of celebrations of the Kurdish National Day of “Newroz” where thousands of Syrian Kurds gathered in Kobane and other Kurdish areas in Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran. The hardline group was apparently trying to target Kurdish celebrators, according to activists.

The extremist group considers all Newroz celebrators as apostates, and that they must either repent or be brought to a Sharia court for prosecution and punishment.

The Kurdish forces have earlier foiled several attempts by ISIS jihadis to infiltrate into the city of Kobane–which has been liberated from the extremist group in early 2015.

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