Beirut (Alliance News) - The Islamic State militant group has seized 21 villages in northern Syria in the past 24 hours, a pro-opposition monitoring group said Thursday.

The mainly Kurdish villages are located on the eastern and western outskirts of the town of Kobane, close to the border with Turkey, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Rami Abdel-Rahman, the head of the Observatory, told dpa that Islamic State militants Wednesday launched a major attack in the area, using tanks and artillery.

He said the extremists' advance triggered an exodus of residents who feared that the Sunni extremists would carry out massacres in the area.

The Islamic State group is now besieging Kobane and adjacent villages, according to the Observatory.

The group has made territorial gains in northern and eastern Syria over several months that it is seeking to consolidate.

Copyright dpa