Turkish troops, Kurdish fighters exchange heavy shellfire in Syria’s Kobane | World News,The Indian Express
Kobane has been relatively calm since U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters pushed back Islamic State militants from the town in 2015 but shelling and drone attacks have been ramping up in many border towns recently
Turkish troops and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters exchanged heavy shellfire on Tuesday in the northern Syrian border town of Kobane, leaving one civilian dead as the conflict escalated.
In Sanliurfa province on the Turkish side of the frontier, some 25 km (16 miles) west of Kobane, a Turkish soldier was killed and four were wounded in a mortar attack on a military border post, Turkey’s defence ministry said.
The artillery salvoes in Kobane hit within the town and around its edges, starting overnight and intensifying throughout the day, according to residents and the semi-autonomous local administration governing the town.
The administration said in an online statement that at least one child died due to the shelling and a number of other people were wounded. Ankara regards the semi-autonomous system – which is spearheaded by Kurdish factions and governs swathes of northern and eastern Syria – as a national security threat on its border.
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