Farhad Shami, a Kurdish activist in Kobani reached by phone from Beirut, said the town was “relatively quiet” on Sunday apart from sniper fire. He said Islamic State fighters launched an offensive south of the town on Saturday but were repelled and lost many fighters.

“There are large numbers of dead fighters for Daesh who were either killed by the People’s Protection Units or the (coalition) airstrikes,” Shami said, referring to the main Kurdish force and using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

He said Kurdish fighters also were able to regain the border village of Tel Shair west of Kobani.

Abdurrahman said 36 jihadi fighters were killed in Kobani on Saturday. The jihadists control more than a third of the town.