Kurdish fighters on the outskirts of Kobani in northern Syria, very near the Turkish border.<br/> <br />They're with the main armed Kurdish group in Syria - called the YPG - and they're reportedly being fired on by Islamic State militants.<br/> <br />It's amateur video said to be from Wednesday uploaded to a social website.<br/> <br />Islamic State fighters have reportedly encircled Kobani, after seizing some 21 villages in the area in just 24 hours.<br/> <br />A YPG spokesman says the militants are using tanks, rockets and artillery in an attack that started Tuesday.<br/> <br />It's a major assault that's prompted a YPG commander to appeal for military aid from other Kurds in the region.<br/> <br />A monitoring group says it's lost touch with many of the residents in the besieged villages and that Islamic State fighters are massacring people and kidnapping women.<br/> <br />although that account couldn't be immediately verified.<br/> <br />More amateur video purports to show a tank taking fire west of Kobani.<br/> <br />The sign
