1st LD: Kurdish fighters detonate IS-held building in Syria's Kobane

The Kurdish fighters on Saturday detonated a building the Islamic State (IS) militants were stationing at in the predominantly-Kurdish city of Ayn al-Arab, or Kobane, Kurdish activists said.

The IS militants were holed up in a building of the Doctors Without Borders, southwest of Ayn al-Arab, which returned under the spotlight over the past few days when the IS militants launched a massive offensive against the city near the Turkish borders, in which over 146 civilians were killed.

Kurdish activists said the explosion was massive and rocked the city, adding that the IS presence in Ayn al-Arab is diminishing amid reports saying the U.S.-led airstrikes are taking out the remaining holdouts of the IS in that city.

The IS surprise attack against Ayn al-Arab has sent the chill down the civilians' spines there, as the IS had overran the city before and was forcibly dislodged out of the city five months ago.

Observers said the IS wanted to storm Ayn al-Arab to revenge the losses it has recently suffered at the hands of Kurdish fighters in predominantly Kurdish areas in northern Syria.

Over the past few days, the YPG and allied rebel groups stripped the IS of several towns and areas in the northern countryside of the IS de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria, pushing the IS to call for back-up forces to fortify its positions in the city of Raqqa. Endit