Airstrikes kill hundreds of IS rebels in Kobani

The Pentagon has announced that several hundred Islamic State militants had been killed in US-led airstrikes around the Syrian town of Kobani.

It also warned however that the town, close to the Turkish border, could still fall to the militants.

The US-led coalition launched about 40 air strikes on the mainly Kurdish town in the past 48 hours, the largest number since the strikes inside Syria began on 22 September. A Pentagon spokesman said that the strikes crippled IS's ability to move forces around and to sustain themselves.

The siege on Kobani has become a focus of the US-led effort to halt the fighters, who have seized territory in Syria and Iraq.

The United Nations has warned of a massacre if the town falls to the rebels, who now control nearly half of it.