Kobane: Air strikes help Syria town curb IS

The US-led coalition has carried out its most sustained air attacks so far on Islamic State fighters attacking the Turkey-Syria border town of Kobane, the BBC reported.

Syrian Kurdish fighters said the strikes were the most effective yet but should have come much earlier.

Correspondents said the surge of IS appeared to have been halted, although fighting around Kobane continues.

At least 12 people were killed in protests by Kurds in Turkey about the lack of Turkish military support.

Kurdish Syrian Party leader Salih Muslim said the situation overnight remained very serious with the Kurdish fighters of the YPG militia under intense pressure.

At least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, monitors say, and 160,000 Syrians have fled across the border to Turkey.

The latest media release from the US military confirmed five air strikes around Kobane, saying they were on Monday and Tuesday, but without specifying exactly when.

The strikes take place as the Obama administration is reported to be increasingly frustrated by what it sees as Turkey's excuses for not doing more to intervene militarily.

"There's growing angst about Turkey dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border," a senior administration official was quoted by the New York Times as saying.