Dozens killed as Kurds answer latest ISIS offensive
BEIRUT -- Activists say Kurdish fighters have besieged Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants who entered the northern Syrian town of Kobani, adding that two days of fighting had left more than 100 dead.
Kobani-based Kurdish activist Mustafa Bali said small groups of jihadis were still in the town and had taken civilian hostages.
He added that Kurdish fighters were besieging three locations where ISIS militants had taken up positions.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that the attack on Kobani and its suburbs left 120 civilians dead.
Bali said more than 100 civilians were killed in Kobani as well as 40 ISIS fighters whose bodies were still in the streets.
Kobani, on Syria's border with Turkey, had become a symbol of Kurdish resistance against the ISIS extremists.
On Thursday, ISIS fighters also attacked the town of Hassakeh in northeast Syria.
According to a Reuters report, 60,000 people were displaced due to the fighting.
Reuters reported that 200,000 people in Hassakeh eventually could try and escape north toward the Turkish border.