Explosion hits Syrian town of Kobani

An explosion hit the Syrian town of Kobani on Saturday, a witness said, sending plumes of smoke into the air days after attacks by Islamic State militants killed up to 150 people in and around the town.

The cause of the explosion, which appeared to come from the centre of the town, was not immediately clear, said a Reuters cameraman who was near the town at the Turkish border.

Islamic State fighters who sneaked into the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish border killed up to 150 people there and in nearby villages, Kurdish activists and a monitoring group have said.

At least 120 civilians were killed in a 24-hour rampage on Kobani, and another 26 were executed in a nearby village, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

If that toll is confirmed, the attack would be one of the largest mass killings by the jihadis in Syria since they started seizing territory there for their self-declared caliphate, which stretches over the border into Iraq.

The bullet-riddled bodies of 18 people — including children — were found Friday in the streets of Kobani, the British-based Observatory said, adding that they had been shot “at close range.”

Kobani, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, carries heavy symbolism both to the Islamic State and to some of the forces fighting against it in Syria.

“According to medical sources and Kobani residents, 120 civilians were executed by Islamic State in their homes or killed by the group’s rockets or snipers,” Observatory director Rami Abdelrahman said.

“When they entered the town, the jihadis took up positions in buildings at the southeast and southwest entrances, firing at everything that moved.”

For months last year, Kurdish fighters defended the town from repeated attacks by the Islamic State, while a military coalition led by the United States heavily bombed the group’s fighters from the air.

In January, the Islamic State finally lost, in what was considered a blow to its effort to portray itself as invincible.

But this week, the Islamic State struck back, when a group of fighters disguised as Kurdish rebels sneaked into the town at dawn Thursday, setting off car bombs and shooting civilians in the street.

Kurdish militias responded, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters. Residents began to collect and bury their kin on Friday.

“The Daesh attack was a suicide mission,” said Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the Kurdish militiamen, told Reuters, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

“Its aim wasn’t to take the city but to create terror.” Activists in the town Friday described the painful process of finding dead bodies in the streets and going from house to house to collect others for burial.

“From yesterday morning at 4am, Daesh sneaked in and started killing in their silent way,” said Simyar Sheikhi, a Kurdish fighter reached by phone.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain through contacts in Syria, said that at least 138 bodies had been found in Kobani and 26 others nearby.

Dozens of Islamic State fighters were killed, too, the group said.

Farther east, clashes between Islamic State fighters and government troops in the city of Hasaka had displaced 60,000 people, the United Nations said, warning that as many as 200,000 eventually may flee.

The Islamic State stormed into the southern part of the city on Thursday, engaging in clashes with government troops and associated militias.

Agencies