A fresh series of airstrikes apparently sent by a U.S.-led coalition have helped hold off the advance of Islamic State extremists on Kobani, Syria as of Sunday morning. Photo: AP

THE Islamic State jihadist group is again urging its followers to carry out “lone wolf” attacks against Australians and citizens of other “crusader nations” that are supporting the military mission in Iraq.

In the latest edition of its English-language magazine, Dabiq, a statement from the IS calls on supporters to attack “infidels”, according to Australian media reports.

Named after a town in northern Syria, flagged as the location of “Armageddon”, the glossy recruitment magazine tells would-be terrorists to keep their plots simple.

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“At this point of the crusade against the Islamic State, it is very important that attacks take place in every country that has entered into the alliance against the Islamic State, especially the US, UK, France, Australia and Germany,” it states.

“The citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found.”

Earlier, a series of suicide car bombs rocked Iraq, as the US prepares to step up operations in the embattled country, including launching strikes from a new site inside Turkey against the marauding Islamic State militants.

Iraqi troops yesterday fought various skirmishes against IS militants to the capital’s west and north but could do nothing to stop suicide bombers killing at least 60 people and wounding 107.

Among the dead from a roadside bomb in the Anbar province, to Baghdad’s west, was the region’s police chief Major General Ahmed Saddag who had been en route to a battleground town near the provincial capital Ramadi.

Another three suicide bombers targeted offices in Kurdish-controlled town of Qara Tappah north east of Baghdad and killed 58 mostly Kurdish forces veterans volunteering to re-enlist.

The first bomber wore a suicide explosive vest before two others drove their explosive-filled cars at the crowded buildings.

IS used Twitter to claim that attack was carried out by bombers from Germany, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

It was the second day in a row of coordinated multiple suicide bombings in Iraq, with three others yesterday claiming 45 lives.

But IS suffered heavy casualties in the high-profile battle about the town of Kobane, on the Turkish-Syria border, with outgunned Kurdish fighters killing at least 30 militants and driving them back from parts of the city.

Meanwhile, the United States yesterday ruled out having a ground force in Iraq or Syria but according to Iraqi press had moved “tens of military advisers” and up to 200 armoured vehicles to Tikrit in Iraq’s north.

The move will support Iraqi forces fighting back in the city.

US General Martin Dempsey suggested that US troops would have to play a bigger role alongside Iraqi forces on the ground although ruled out an actual ground force.

“Mosul (northern Iraq) will likely be the decisive battle in the ground campaign at some point in the future,” he said.

“My instinct at this point is that that will require a different kind of advising and assisting, because of the complexity of that fight.”

A US armed forces spokesman in Kuwait yesterday declined to speak about operations in Iraq but there was much activity at the bases the US operate in the Gulf State.

The US is also poised to set up another base in Turkey as a staging post for fighter jets to take on IS in both Syria and Iraq.

The Pentagon had been pressing the Turkish government to allow US forces to use its air bases to launch strikes against IS.

Yesterday it appeared Turkey finally agreed to the request and allow the US to use its bases including one in Incirlik which is about 160km from the Syrian border.

U.S. officials also confirmed on Saturday that Ankara had agreed to train Syrian moderate forces on Turkish soil.

A Turkish government official said Turkey put the number at 4,000 opposition fighters and said they would be screened by Turkish intelligence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who has been travelling in South America, has said the U.S. wanted access to the Turkish bases.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss private talks between the Americans and Turks.

As fighting continued in the Kurdish town of Kobane, Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the tenuous situation.

Speaking in Cairo, Kerry said the defence of Kobane does not define the international counterterrorism strategy.

Islamic State militants have taken parts of Kobane, Kerry indicated, but not all of it. The United Nations has warned of mass casualties if the border town falls.

Kerry said the U.S. has been realistic about how quickly it will prevail against the Islamic State militants. Officials have spoken of years of counterterrorism efforts ahead.

U.S. and coalition aircraft have been bombarding the territory in and around Kobane for days, launching air strikes on dozens of locations and taking out militants, weapons and other targets.

The enclave has been the scene of heavy fighting since late last month, with heavily-armed Islamic State fighters determined to deal a symbolic blow to the coalition air campaign.

U.S. Central Command said warplanes from the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched air strikes on four locations in Syria on Saturday and Sunday, including three in Kobane that destroyed an Islamic State fighting position and staging area.

Beyond the training and bases, there are other issues the U.S. hopes Turkey will agree to, U.S. officials have not said what all of those would be because discussions are continuing.

Earlier on Sunday, President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, made clear the U.S. has not asked “the Turks to send ground forces of their own into Syria.”

American officials are “continuing to talk to the Turks about other ways that they can play an important role. They are already essential to trying to prevent the flow of foreign fighters” and prevent extremists from exporting oil through Turkey. “So Turkey has many ways it can contribute,” Rice told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Hagel spoke by telephone on Sunday with Turkey’s defence minister, Ismet Yilmaz, and thanked him for his country’s willingness to assist in the fight.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said Hagel “noted Turkey’s expertise in this area and the responsible manner in which Turkey is handling the other challenges this struggle has placed upon the country, in terms of refugees and border security.”

Turkey and other American allies are pressing the U.S. to create a no-fly zone inside Syrian territory, and seeking creation of a secure buffer on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey.

A “safe zone” would require Americans and their partners to protect ground territory and patrol the sky.

Hagel has said American leaders are open to discussing a safe zone, but creating one isn’t “actively being considered.”

Alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Kerry said at a news conference in Cairo that Kobane is “one community and it is a tragedy what is happening there.”

The primary focus of the fight against the Islamic State group has been in Iraq, where the U.S. is working to help shore up Iraqi Security Forces, who were overrun in many places by the militants.

In Syria, the U.S. is starting by going after the extremists’ infrastructure and sources of revenue.