Ankara - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday dismissed as "propaganda" accusations that Islamic State fighters had been allowed to cross from Turkey into Syria to launch a fresh assault on the symbolic battleground town of Kobane.
"We condemn the heinous attack by the terrorist IS organisation that targeted innocent civilians in the city of Kobane," Erdogan said in a speech.
Dozens of civilians and fighters on both sides were killed when the IS jihadists made a surprise return to Kobane on Thursday, detonating a suicide car bomb near the border and battling Kurdish fighters in the city. Two more bombs exploded later in the day.
Claims circulating on the Internet suggested several cars loaded with IS militants passed through the Mursitpinar border crossing in Turkey to make their way into Kobane.
Describing those allegations as "defamation and propaganda", Erdogan said: "No one has the right to link Turkey to terrorist organisations".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 35 civilians and Kurdish fighters were killed in the car bomb and subsequent fighting in the centre and south of the town, along with 22 IS militants.
Turkish officials meanwhile said four victims had died in Turkish hospitals while 135 wounded received treatment on the Turkish side of the border.
The Turkish government said video footage taken from Turkish border security units and broadcast by the state-run Anatolia news agency showed a bomb-laden car did not pass through the Turkish border crossing.
But Kurdish activists accused Turkey on social media of assisting the IS group, with the hashtag #TerroristTurkey becoming a trending topic on Twitter.
Arin Shekhmos, a Syrian Kurdish activist, told AFP in Beirut earlier that IS had entered Syria from Turkey through the Mursitpinar border crossing.
He claimed the IS forces were wearing Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) uniforms as a disguise when they entered.
AFP
