MURSITPINAR (Reuters) - Islamic State has raised its flag on a building on the eastern side of Kobani where IS fighters have been battling Kurdish forces for control of the Syrian border town, according to Reuters television images and a Turkish military officer.

A black flag apparently belonging to the group was visible atop a four storey building close to the scene of some of the most intense clashes in recent days, television images shot from neighbouring Turkey showed.

A Turkish military officer who did not give his name said that the flag was that of Islamic State, which has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in recent months.

(Reporting by Hamdi Istanbullu and Daren Butler; editing by Janet McBride)