IS launches attacks in northern Syria

Islamic State militants launched two major attacks in northern Syria on Thursday , storming government-held areas in the mostly Kurdish city of Hassakeh and pushing into Kobani the Syrian Kurdish border town they were expelled from early this year where they set off three cars bombs, killing and wounding dozens, activists and officials said.

The attacks came after the Islamic State group suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks.

In Kobani, which famously resisted a months-long assault by the Islamic militants before driving them out in January, an activist group said 10 people died in fighting on Thursday  the first time in six months the IS had managed to enter the town along the Syria-Turkey border.

In the city of Hassakeh, <g data-gr-id="19">Redur</g> Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, said IS militants attacked government-held neighborhoods on the southern edge of the city, and captured some areas. Hassakeh is divided between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces and Kurdish fighters. Syrian state TV reported intense clashes inside Hassakeh’s southern neighborhood of <g data-gr-id="20">Nashawi</g>. According to the report, IS fighters killed people they captured in the city, including the head of a military housing institution. It said the militants sustained many casualties, including the commander of the group.