BEIRUT,— Kurdish fighters have expelled jihadists from the Islamic State group IS from the border Kurdish town of Kobani in Syrian Kurdistan after more than four months of fighting, a monitor said Monday.

Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) had “expelled all Islamic State fighters from Kobani and have full control of the town.”

“The Kurds are pursuing some jihadists on the eastern outskirts of Kobane, but there is no more fighting inside now.”

The loss of Kobani, would be a key symbolic blow against IS, which has lost more than 1,000 fighters trying to capture the town since September 16.

At one time it looked set to overrun the town, which lies on the Syrian-Turkish border, with its superior firepower and waves of foreign fighters.

But Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes have gradually pushed back the jihadists, with analysts saying the loss could put the brakes on their plans for expansion in Syria.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, AFP | Ekurd.net

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