ANKARA // A Turkish official says there is no new agreement with the United States on using an air base in southern Turkey for operations against ISIL.
Turkey and the United States are still talking about the Incirlik air base as well as Turkish demands for the creation of a no-fly zone and a safe haven for refugees, the government official, who asked not to be named, said on Monday.
On Sunday, US defence officials said Turkey would let US and coalition forces use its bases against ISIL militants.
On the ground, an ISIL suicide bomber detonated his vehicle on Monday in the Syrian border town of Kobani amid fierce fighting with Kurdish militiamen there.
A US-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the militant targets in and around Kobani for more than two weeks. The town’s fate has emerged as a major test of whether the air campaign can roll back the extremists in Syria.
The sound of explosions and occasional gunfire could be heard across the border from Kobani a day after Kurdish fighters managed to slow the advance of the militant group. What appeared to be a rocket-propelled grenade struck a minaret in the center of the town, emitting a cloud of white smoke.
Activists said ISIL militants were carrying out a three-pronged attack from the eastern side of the town and that clashes were reported in the southern part.
The Syrian Kurdish enclave has been the scene of heavy fighting since late last month, with the better-armed ISIL fighters determined to capture the border post.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an ISIL suicide bomber detonated a car filled with explosives in the northern part of Kobani near the border with Turkey on Monday. It said the car was headed to the border crossing between Kobani and Turkey.
A Kurdish activist in the town, Farhad Shami, said the vehicle appeared to have exploded prematurely. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.
Mr Shami said coalition aircraft flying over Kobani had struck 10 times on Sunday and Monday.
Meanwhile in Iraq, government troops stationed on the edge of Heet in beleaguered Anbar province have withdrawn to another base, leaving the city under full ISIL control, security sources said on Monday.
ISIL fighters had assaulted and eventually seized the centre of the western city on the Euphrates River, but a sizeable contingent of government forces remained holed up in a nearby base.
“Iraqi forces evacuated Heet training camp [on Sunday night] on the orders of the military command,” said a senior police official in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Press
