Tallinn: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that 1300 Free Syrian Army fighters would join Kurds in defending the key Syrian border town of Kobane from an assault by Islamic State jihadists.

The Syrian Kurds have "accepted 1300 people from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and they are holding talks to determine the transit route," Erdogan told reporters in Estonia's capital Tallinn.

The battle rages ... Smoke and flames rise following an explosion in the Syrian town of Kobane. Credit:AFP

"I have just been informed that the number of (Iraqi Kurdish) peshmerga (to be sent to Kobane) was reduced to 150" from a previously agreed 200, he added.

Erdogan said on Thursday that 200 Iraqi Kurd peshmerga fighters would travel through Turkey to Kobane to fight jihadists from the Islamic State group.