Fresh Airstrikes on Jihadists in Kobane as Fighting Spreads to South, West

Fresh air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition on Tuesday hit positions held by Islamic State jihadists in the southwest of the key Syrian border town of Kobane, according to an Agence France Presse journalist just across the border in Turkey.

The strikes came a day after the extremists pushed into Kobane, seizing three districts in the city's east after fierce street battles with its Kurdish defenders. 

On Tuesday, the fighting had spread to new areas in the south and west, a monitor said.

However with Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fighters seeking to halt the IS advance, a Kurdish flag could still be seen flying from a roof in the center of the town, the correspondent said.

"There were lots of clashes last night between YPG and IS," Idris Nahsen, a Kurdish official still in Kobane, told AFP by telephone.

The IS jihadists "are in the east side of the city. They are trying hard to capture the city. But there is resistance from YPG fighters which stopped their progress Monday and last night," he said.

The U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, which continued in the night and the morning, are "helping but are not enough", he added, calling for arms and ammunition to be supplied to the Kurdish fighters.

He said the Kurds were in contact with both the U.S.-led coalition and Turkey in search of more assistance.

"We need help from the international community. Either we finish them (IS) or they will finish us," he said.