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                      Iraqi Kurds Move Near Syrian Border

   by VOA News

   Iraqi Kurdish fighters have moved to within 10 kilometers of the Syrian
   border as they prepare to join Syrian Kurds in their fight against
   Islamic State militants in the town of Kobani.

   Two groups of peshmerga forces from Iraq's Kurdistan region met up
   Thursday in the southern Turkish town of Suruc after spending a day
   traveling across the country under an agreement with Turkey's
   government.

   The 150 fighters are going to Kobani, a Syrian town just across the
   border, where Kurds have been battling to hold off an advance by the
   Islamic State group since mid-September.

   On Wednesday, a group of about 50 rebels from the Free Syrian Army
   arrived in Kobani to help the Kurds.

   Turkey has said it will not send its own troops because it says the
   Syrian Kurds in Kobani are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'
   Party, which has fought with Turkey for three decades for cultural and
   political rights.

   U.S. military jets have carried out weeks of airstrikes in the Kobani
   area targeting the Islamic State group. The Pentagon said Wednesday
   that U.S. forces had conducted eight airstrikes over the course of two
   days, hitting Islamic State fighters, vehicles and a control center.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/iraqi-kurds-move-near-syrian-border/2
   501740.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/iraqi-kurds-move-near-syrian-border/2501740.html