Fighting raged in Kobani, close to the Turkish border, today as Kurdish militia battled with Isis fighters who have laid siege to the Syrian town for a number of weeks.

With the aid of air strikes from a US-led coalition, the Kurds have been looking to push Isis, which also calls itself Islamic State, out of the town. The group has reached the border region, having taken hold of large swathes of both Syria and Iraq in recent months and declaring its own “caliphate”. The air strikes have intensified in recent days as the coalition of nations looks, in President Barack Obama’s words, “to degrade and destroy” the militant group. US Central Command said that 13 strikes were conducted over Syria on Saturday and yesterday with the aid of fighter planes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

There were a further 10 strikes in Iraq, many of them in Anbar province, an area where Isis has made gains recently. Of the attacks in Syria, 11 of them were around Kobani. US Central Command said those strikes hit 20 Isis fighting positions, five of the group’s vehicles and two buildings used by militants.

Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Show all 22 1 /22 Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Mourners gathered to bury three Kurdish fighters from Kobani Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border An explosion rocks the Syrian city of Kobani during a reported suicide car bomb attack by Isis Getty Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border The US and Turkey have stepped up support for Kurdish fighters defending Kobani against Isis but it is still feared the town may fall; above, observers watch the fighting from a nearby village AFP Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border People are silhouetted on the top of a hill close to the border line between Turkey and Syria near Mursitpinar bordergate as they watch the U.S led airstrikes over ther Syrian town of Kobani Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Syrian Kurd Kiymet Ergun (56) gestures, in Mursitpinar on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, as thick smoke rises following an airstrike by the US-led coalition in Kobani, as fighting continued between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Isis group Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Kurdish Rabia Ali (R) accompanied by her son Ali Mehmud (L) mourn at the grave of her son Seydo Mehmud 'Curo', a Kurdish fighter, who was killed in the fighting with the militants of the Islamic State group in Kobani, and was buried at a cemetery in Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Mourners gather for the funeral of two Syrian Kurdish fighters killed in fighting with militants of the Isis group in Kobani at a cemetery in Suruc Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Kurdish refugees fleeing Kobani enter Turkey at Suruc Getty Images Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Smoke from air strikes against Isis in Kobani can be seen from across the border in Mursitpinar, Turkey Getty Images Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Newly arrived Kurdish refugees after crossing into Turkey from the Syrian border town of Kobani Getty Images Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Kurdish refugees cross the border near Kobani Getty Images Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Smoke rises from the city centre of Kobani Getty Images Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Isis militants stand next to an Isis flag atop a hill in the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani by the Kurds, as seen from the Turkish-Syrian border, with Turkish troops in foreground, in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border A flag of Isis group is seen atop of a building at the eastern side of the town of Kobani, Syria, where fighting had been intensified between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Isis group Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Militants with the Isis group are seen after placing their group's flag on a hilltop at the eastern side of the town of Kobani Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Smoke rises after an apparent airstrike by allied forces against Isis targets in the west of Kobani where Kurdish fighters try to defend the town, near Suruc district, Sanliurfa, Turkey Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Newly arrived Syrian Kurdish refugees stand at the back of a truck after crossing into Turkey from the Syrian border town Kobani, near the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Turkish forces fire tear gas to disperse Kurds on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, as fighting intensified between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Isis in Kobani Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Kurdish men shout towards Turkish army soldiers, who try to evacuate people from the village of Mursitpinar, on the other side of the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani by the Kurds, by the Turkish-Syrian border in Sanliurfa province Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Turkish Kurds walk as tanks in the background hold their positions on a hilltop in the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, overlooking Kobani in Syria where fighting had ben intensified between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Isis Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Turkish Gendarmerie use tear gas to disperse Kurdish protesters during a demonstration against the Isis, at the Syria-Turkey border near Sanliurfa Isis fighters in Kobani (2014): Civilians flee as militants enter Syria-Turkey border Syria-Turkey border Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province

A British-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, claimed that militants fired dozens of mortars at Kurdish parts of the town on Saturday, as well as a number on Sunday.

Up to 200,000 Syrian Kurds have fled Kobani as Isis has advanced and crossed the border into Turkey. In a sports hall on the outskirts of Suruc, near the Syrian border, are dozens of Kurds, part of a group of about 250 that human rights group Amnesty International said crossed the border from Kobani earlier this month. They claim that they were detained while Turkish authorities took fingerprints, a common procedure for most refugees coming from Kobani, and were vetted for links to the Syrian Kurdish political group the PYD and its military wing, the YPG, which is fighting Isis in Kobani.

Heavy smoke rises following an air strike by the US-led coalition in Kobani (Getty)

Turkey views the PYD and the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a 30-year armed campaign for self-rule for Kurds in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and Nato. The PYD and the YPG are affiliated with the armed Kurdish group. Perwer Muhammed Ali, 27, one of the men held in the sports hall, said in a telephone interview with The Independent: “We were welcomed as guests and transported to a village. When we arrived, we heard that we were taken into custody for security reasons. We didn’t understand. There were many families in the group, children, pregnant women.”

Gulay Koca, a lawyer who works for the refugees, said they faced the threat of removal back to Syria.

Mr Ali insisted they were not part of the militia. “We are all citizens. I myself worked as a journalist in Kobani. I am not a YPG member. None of us is. If we were YPG members, surely we would have stayed in Kobani to fight Isis,” he said.

Mr Koca said that some people had already been sent back to Kobani, having allegedly signed a voluntary agreement to return. Mr Koca believes that the detentions have to do with the fact that the group fled from Kobani only now, later than most refugees. “Therefore, the authorities assume that they have ties to the PYD, the party that governs Kobani, because they would be the last ones to flee,” he said. “Everybody was asked if they worked for the PYD or fought with the YPG, the armed forces of the PYD which fights against Isis, or if they had other ties with one of these groups.”

He said he had been told by Turkish officials that the group of refugees was being held in “administrative supervision”, with Mr Koca adding that they could face deportation. Amnesty International has called for their release.

Back in Kobani people have said that help is needed. Welat Omer, a doctor caring for the few remaining civilians in Kobani, told Reuters news agency that he was looking after a number of patients, including children and the elderly. “We need medicine, including antibiotics and milk for the children, and medicine for the elderly.”

As the battle continued for Kobani, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was quoted yesterday as saying that Ankara would never arm the YPG through its political wing, the PYD. “There has been talk of arming the PYD to establish a front here against [Isis]. For us, the PYD is the same as the PKK – it’s a terrorist organisation,” the Turkish media reported the President as saying.

This stance has sparked outrage among Turkey’s own Kurds, who make up about 20 per cent of the population. Riots in several cities earlier this month killed dozens.

“It would be wrong for the US – with whom we are friends and allies in Nato – to talk openly and to expect us to say ‘Yes’ to support to a terrorist organisation,” Mr Erdogan said. His comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu agency.

Turkey’s opposition to arms transfers to the Kurdish forces is hampering the US-led coalition’s efforts to fight the extremists and further complicating relations between Turkey and Washington. The countries are involved in negotiations about Ankara’s role within the coalition.