IS Suicide Attacks, Shelling Kill 30 Around Kobani: Syrian Observatory

MOSCOW, November 29 (Sputnik) — Some 30 people were killed by Islamic State (IS) suicide bomb and shell attacks around the Syrian city of Kobani on the border with Turkey, the Syrian Human Rights Observatory reported Saturday.

"4 [IS militants] detonated themselves around the city by suicide cars and explosive belts," the report stated, adding that the suicide bombs alongside at least 110 shells killed eight Kurdish fighters and 17 of its own militants.

The militants used the armored personnel carriers known as BMP to launch the attacks at about 6 a.m. Syrian time (04:00 GMT), an on-sight reporter told Sputnik Radio in a separate report.

"[The suicide bombers] denoted car bombs both around the city and at the Turkish border check-points, from what we see here, it is apparent that the militants are located in Turkish territory and are launching attacks [on Kobani] from Turkey,” the reporter told Sputnik Radio.

Islamic State radical Sunni jihadi group has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the extremists extended operations to northern and western Iraq. The group has declared a caliphate on the territories it has seized.

Kurds are one of the ethnic groups in Iraq and Syria that have suffered greatly from Islamic State violence.

Kurdish fighters have been holding off the group from seizing the territories in Kobani since September with significant success, while Turkey stays adamant on not militarily engaging with the group.