Kurds Nearing Key Islamic State-Held Syrian Border Town

Kurdish officials and an activist group say Syrian Kurdish fighters are just outside of a key Islamic State-held town on the Turkish border.
Kurds Nearing Key Islamic State-Held Syrian Border Town
The Associated Press
Updated:

AKCAKALE, Turkey— Kurdish officials and an activist group say Syrian Kurdish fighters are just outside of a key Islamic State-held town on the Turkish border.

The advance on f could allow Kurds to cut off a vital route that the extremists use to bring in new foreign fighters. U.S.-led airstrikes have aided their push.

Kurdish official Idriss Naasan said Sunday that Islamic State fighters have fled from Suluk, a few kilometers (miles) southwest of Tal Abyad, and that Kurds now hold the town.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said Islamic State fighters had withdrawn. The Observatory said the Kurds are about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Tal Abyad.

Hundreds in Tal Abyad stood close to the barbed wire marking the Turkish border Sunday, trying to cross to safety.