ISIS militants targeted in air strike, Kurdish fighters raise flag to claim symbolic victory

A combination of two pictures taken on October 23 (top) and Oct 24, 2014 shows militants of Islamic State (IS) standing near their flag (top) before an air strike and Kurdish fighters standing the following day in the same area by a flag of the Peopl
A combination of two pictures taken on October 23 (top) and Oct 24, 2014 shows militants of Islamic State (IS) standing near their flag (top) before an air strike and Kurdish fighters standing the following day in the same area by a flag of the People's Protection Units (YPG), on Tilsehir hill near the Turkish border at the Yumurtalik village, in Sanliurfa province. -- PHOTO: AFP
A combination of four images show from top left to bottom right:- militants of Islamic State (IS) seen just before and after an explosion from an air strike on Tilsehir hill near the Turkish-Syrian border on Oct 23, 2014, from Yumurtalik village, in Sanliurfa province. -- PHOTO: AFP

MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AFP) - Coalition aircraft targeted Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants near the town of Kobane in an airstrike seen from the Turkish border Thursday, with the jihadists running away from the bombing raid, an AFP photographer reported.

Four ISIS militants were walking around the Tilsehir hill in the western part of the besieged Syrian town before the air raid at around 6pm local time, the photographer said.

Having heard the sound of fighter jets overhead, the militants could be clearly seen running down the hill to hide in trenches most probably dug by Kurdish fighters who previously controlled the territory.

After the bombardment, the photographer saw militants running away in a sign that Kurdish fighters had taken back control of the hill.

The yellow flag of the People's Protection Units (YPG) later replaced the black jihadist banner on top of the hill in a symbolic gesture of victory.

IS and Kurdish fighters have regularly traded territory during the fight for the town, with neither side able to gain a decisive edge in the battle.

US-led air strikes in Syria were reported Thursday to have killed more than 500 jihadists in a month, and reinforcements of Kurdish peshmarga forces from northern Iraq could potentially give another boost to the defenders of Kobane.

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