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Black smoke obscured the skyline of Kobani on Wednesday (October 15), as American-led forces sharply intensified air strikes against Islamic State fighters in and around the town. Islamic State is believed to have seized more than a third of the Syrian border town, despite resistance from Kurdish fighters on the ground.
The U.S.-led coalition, which had conducted 21 attacks on the militants near the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani over Monday and Tuesday, appears to have slowed Islamic State advances there, the U.S. military said, but cautioned that the situation remained fluid.
Air strikes killed at least 32 Islamic State fighters in direct hits in Kobani this week because of closer coordination with Kurdish forces on the ground, a monitoring group said, after bombing of the Syrian town intensified.
Kurdish officials said the main Kurdish armed group, the YPG, was giving the coordinates of I