Syrian rights groups call on world to save Kobani

Several Syrian human rights groups called on the world to save the embattled Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from falling into the hands of the Islamic State group as new US-led airstrikes targeted the extremists near the town Wednesday. The strikes are part of a wave of US-led coalition bombing this week that aims to prevent Islamic State fighters from capturing the town. An activist group said the strikes killed at least 45 militants since late Monday, forcing them to withdraw from parts of Kobani. The dramatic appeal by human rights groups came after Islamic State fighters — despite the airstrikes — managed to push into parts of the town, located on the Syria-Turkish border and also known under its Arabic name of Ayn Arab. Kobani has been under the onslaught of the Islamic State group since mid-September when the militants' launched their offensive in the area, capturing several Kurdish villages around the town and bringing Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep. The fighting has forced some 200,000 of the town residents and villagers from the area to flee and seek shelter across the frontier in Turkey. Activists also say that more than 400 people have been killed in the fighting, according to AP.