Over 60,000 refugees are reported to have crossed the border into Turkey from northern Syria, fleeing from advancing Islamic State militants.
Many of the displaced families are reported to be Syrian Kurds.
Islamic State, also known as ISIL, is advancing in northern Syria, and the UN refugee agency is preparing for the arrival of more refugees.
“ISIL came and tyrannised us”, said this man. “With our families and children we left our homes and properties behind. We left everything we had. our shops, our jobs, because of the cruelty of Islamic State”.
The refugees are being housed in whatever buildings are available. Around 2000 people are being sheltered in a Turkish boarding school in the province of Sanliurfa.
“There was bombing all around us”, said one woman in the school, “we were in the city and Islamic State attacked us and we ran away. We all left in a hurry”.
Islamic State claims to have 10,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria. Since the summer the group has made rapid gains and now controls swathes of the two countries as part of its stated aim to create a new Islamic caliphate.
