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            Syrian Border Town Under Constant Attack by IS Militants

   by VOA News

   Smoke billowed over the strategic Syrian border town of Kobani Sunday
   as fighting raged on between Islamic State militants and Kurdish forces
   backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.

   The latest fighting comes one day after Kurdish officials said IS
   forces shelled Kobani from three fronts Saturday.

   The attacks are the latest attempts by militants to take the town.

   An estimated 160,000 people or more have fled across the border into
   Turkey to escape the fighting around Kobani; a conflict now said to be
   overshadowing Syria's wider civil war.

   Kobani and its surrounding areas have been under attack since
   mid-September by Islamic State fighters trying to open a direct link
   between their positions in the Syrian province of Aleppo and their
   stronghold of Raqqa, to the east.  The Islamic State group has captured
   dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.

   In another development, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has apologized to
   Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for comments suggesting Turkey
   had allowed Islamic fighters to pass through its border into Syria and
   helped arm militant groups.

   A White House statement says Biden called Erdogan Saturday and
   "apologized for any implication that Turkey...had intentionally
   supplied or facilitated the growth" of Islamic State militants "or
   other violent extremists in Syria."

   While answering questions Thursday after a speech, Biden said the
   Turkish president admitted to him that Ankara "had let too many people
   through."  On Saturday, Erdogan reacted angrily, saying he had never
   made such a comment. Biden later called the Turkish leader to
   apologize.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/syrian-border-town-under-constant-attack-by-islamic-state/2473016.html