Kurdish fighters in northern Syria continue to defend a border town from Islamic State militants as the number of area residents fleeing to neighboring Turkey tops 130,000.
The exodus across the border began last week, when the Islamic State launched a ground campaign aimed at Kobane, also known as Ain al Arab.
One Syrian Kurd said he brought his family into Turkey for safety, but was headed back to fight the Islamic State.
“We came here and delivered our wives and children and now we are turning back. We are returning back to fight,” he said. “We will fight there until the last drop of our blood. If we lose Kobane it means we lose the Rojova (Syrian Kurdistan) region.”
Earlier, Turkish officials say more than 130,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey since late last week in order to flee an advance by Islamic State militants.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday the government is expecting the number to rise, and is prepared for “the worst case scenario.”
“We are prepared for the worst scenario, which is an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees,” Kurtulmus said on Monday in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
Officials pitched tents in the Suleyman Sah Dostluk Park in Turkey, while construction vehicles flattened the ground around the park in preparation for the arrival of more refugees.
