A convoy of Kurdish Peshmerga troops departed from Turkey in a convoy overnight to help bolster Syrian Kurds holding out against self-styled Islamic State militants in the besieged town of Kobani.
Islamic State combatants have been trying to capture Kobani, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, for over a month, pressing their assault despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters.
Islamic State fighters have pushed into two more districts of the Syrian border town of Kobani., a local Kurdish official has said.
"Tonight (Islamic State) has entered two districts with heavy weapons, including tanks. Civilians may have died because there are very intense clashes," Asya Abdullah, co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Reuters.
Another official said US-led airstrikes had not prevented the militants from seizing buildings on the eastern edge of the town.
Satellite images have revealed the destruction in and around the town of Kobani, on the Syrian border.
Members of a prominent motorcycle gang from Holland have reportedly joined forces with Kurdish troops in Iraq to fight IS militants.
The sister of a UK journalist being held by Islamic State militants has appealed for his captors to reopen dialogue aimed at freeing him.