Officials inside the Syrian-Turkish border town of Kobane say it is in serious danger of falling to Islamic State (IS) fighters who have reportedly raised black flags on the eastern side of the town.
IS fighters have been battling Kurdish forces for control of the strategic town for almost three weeks.
The black flag used by IS was visible from across the Turkish border atop a four-storey building close to the scene of some of the most intense clashes in recent days.
Local sources inside Kobane confirmed the group had planted the flag but said Kurdish forces had repelled their advances so far.
“They are not inside the city. Intense clashes are continuing,” said Ismail Eskin, a journalist in the town.
A second flag has been planted on a hill, an AFP photographer reported from the Turkish side of the border.
Idris Nahsen, a deputy foreign minister of the region, said he could not confirm if IS jihadists were inside Kobane.
If they enter Kobane, it will be a graveyard for us and for them.
Esmat al-Sheikh, head of the Kobani Defence Authority
Air strikes by the US and partner nations have failed to halt the advance of the Islamists, who have besieged the town from three sides and pounded it with heavy artillery.
Mortars have rained down on the town’s residential areas and stray fire has hit Turkish territory in recent days but Kurdish pleas for help have so far largely gone unanswered.
Islamic State wants to take Kobane to consolidate a dramatic sweep across northern Iraq and Syria in the name of an absolutist version of Sunni Islam that has sent shockwaves through the Middle East.
Beheadings, mass killings and torture have spread fear of the group across the region, with villages emptying at the approach of trucks flying the black flag.
“If they enter Kobane, it will be a graveyard for us and for them,” Esmat al-Sheikh, head of the Kurdish forces, said.
“We will not let them enter Kobane as long as we live. We either win or die. We will resist to the end.”
The development came amid reports that Kurdish forces managed to repulse an attack in Kobane on Sunday night, killing at least 20 IS militants, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“The jihadists died in an ambush by the YPG [Kurdish People’s Protection Units] after they entered Street 48 in the east of Kobane overnight,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
“The Kurds, who are prepared for urban warfare, attacked with gunfire and bombs.”
The attack came after a Kurdish female fighter blew herself up at an IS position.
IS has seized much of the area around Kobane, triggering an exodus of some 186,000 refugees into neighbouring Turkey.