28 Jan 2015

In pictures: Kurds celebrate as IS pushed out of Kobani

Kurdish groups celebrate after a four-month battle against Islamic State forces for control of Kobani sees major parts of the city reclaimed in recent days.

A Kurdish boy with “Kobani” written on his forehead takes part in a celebration in the Syrian Kurdish city of Qamishli after it was reported that Kurdish forces took control of most of the town of Kobani.

People dance as they celebrate in Kurdish-dominated Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey.

US air strikes in conjunction with Kurdish ground troops from the YPG and Iraqi Peshmerga reinforcements allowed to cross the border from Turkey tipped the battle for the Kurds.

Following four months of street fighting and aerial bombardment much of the city is now uninhabitable.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled across the border into Turkey to escape the advancing IS forces, many of their homes are now destroyed.

People gather to celebrate in the Kurdish-dominated city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey.

The fall of Kobani would give IS forces an uninterrupted territory between the Turkish border and their self-declared capital in Raqqa, Syria, over 60 miles away.