Islamic State fighting on edge of Kobani -monitoring group

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria were clashing with Kurdish fighters hundreds of metres from a Kurdish town on the Turkish border on Thursday, a group monitoring the conflict said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said clashes between IS and Kurdish YPG fighters were occurring just hundreds of metres to the south and southeast of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish.

Clashes were also continuing about two to three kilometres away on the western side, the Observatory said, adding there were "serious fears that the Islamic State group could break into the town at any moment."

While many civilians have fled the town, the Observatory said some had stayed behind and refused to leave their homes.

(Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Dominic Evans)