More than 70,000 Kurds fled from northern Syria into Turkey at the weekend and tens of thousands more are trying to cross the border as the terror group Islamic State (Isis) intensified its assault on a crucial Kurdish safe haven near the border.
A rearguard of Kurdish fighters and civilians has remained in the town of Kobani, less than 10 miles from the border, in an effort to fight back Isis forces, which have stormed more than 50 nearby villages as they advance towards the third largest Kurdish hub in Syria.
The attack is a direct challenge to the Kurdish presence in the area and follows a pattern, set by Isis since June, of attacking minorities on either side of the frontier between Syria and Iraq.
