IS attacks Kurdish-held town of Raqa

Beirut 

Islamic State group fighters attacked a town near their de facto Syrian capital today in a bid to recapture it from Kurdish and Arab rebel forces, a Kurdish spokesman said.

"IS launched a large-scale offensive at dawn... and managed to enter Ain Issa," said Redur Khalil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units.

"Clashes are continuing inside the town in the southern part to expel IS," he told AFP.

Ain Issa is some 55 kilometres (35 miles) north of IS's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa city, and fell to Kurdish and Arab forces on June 23, shortly after they took the border town of Tal Abyad from the jihadists. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, said that the IS attack had succeeded and jihadist fighters were in control of Ain Issa and several nearby villages after a wide-ranging assault. 

The Britain-based monitor said IS had launched a counter-attack against fronts in both Raqa province and neighbouring Hasakeh.

Kurdish and rebel spokesmen also said IS was engaged in a large-scale attack in the two provinces, but denied Ain Issa had fallen.

According to the Observatory, 37 IS fighters have been killed and 46 wounded along a front line stretching between the provinces since Monday's assault began. 

The wounded IS members have been taken to hospital in Raqa.