Peshmerga depart from Turkey to besieged Kobani

British jihadists returning to the UK from Syria after becoming disillusioned with the extremists could be used to dissuade others from going to join the conflict, William Hague said.

The Leader of the Commons said authorities would be prepared to assist former-fighters, if satisfied as to their "good intentions".

His comments come amid reports that some Britons who left groups like Islamic State (IS) fear returning home in case they face arrest.

Speaking on BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show Mr Hague said:

US fighter and bomber planes launched five attacks against Islamic State (IS) militants near Kobani in Syria and five in Iraq since Friday, Central Command said.

The Kobani strikes "suppressed or destroyed" nine Islamic State fighting positions and a building, Centcom said. In Iraq, five air strikes destroyed an Islamic State vehicle southwest of Mosul Dam and hit four vehicles and four buildings used by militants near Al Qaim, it said in a statement.

Islamic State militants have killed 85 more members of the Albu Nimr tribe in Iraq, in a killing campaign launched last week in retaliation for resistance against the group's territorial advances, a tribal leader and security official told Reuters.

Sheikh Naeem al-Ga'oud, one of the tribe's leaders, said Islamic State killed 50 displaced members of Albu Nimr on Friday. In a separate incident, a security official said 35 bodies were found in a mass grave.

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.

More: British jihadi tells ITV News he will 'stay and die' fighting in Syria

US forces conducted five air strikes against Islamic State targets near the embattled Syrian city of Kobani, the U.S. Central Command said on Sunday.

Other members of coalition completed 12 separate strikes in Iraq - nine air around the strategic Mosul Dam and three air strikes southeast of Fallujah.

"In Syria five air strikes near Kobani destroyed seven ISIL vehicles and an ISIL building," Central Command said in a statement, using another acronym for Islamic State," Central Command said.

Islamic State militants tried to seize a border post in the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish frontier overnight but were repulsed by Kurdish fighters, officials said.

Islamic State fighters 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.

US Central Command says America and its allies conducted 22 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq on Friday and Saturday.

The United States is investigating reports that Islamic State fighters have used chemical weapons against Iraqi security forces.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the allegations, reported by the Washington Post, are "extremely serious" and confirmed his department was "seeking additional information" to determine their accuracy.

The Post said poisonous chlorine gas was the diagnosis for 11 Iraqi police officers who were rushed to a government hospital with severe breathing problems after an attack, purportedly by Islamic State extremists, last month.

The newspaper said an official at Iraq's ministry of defence supported the claims of the Iraqi forces, though the report added that details of two other apparent chlorine attacks were "sketchy".

Two bundles of military supplies for Kurdish fighters in Kobani went astray, the Pentagon has confirmed.

One was destroyed in a subsequent air strike and the other was taken by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Twenty-six other bundles of supplies were dropped to Kurds in the besieged city and reached their targets, Col. Warren said.

There are at least five Britons travelling to Iraq and Syria to join Islamic State (IS) every week, the UK's most senior police officer has said, adding that this is the minimum and there could be many more.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the militants' activities in those countries were "not just the horrors of distant lands" and warned of the terrorist threat posed at home by returning fighters.