ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)<br/> <br />STORY: Smoke from fresh explosions hovered above the skyline of the besieged Syrian-Turkey border town of Kobani on Saturday (November 8).<br/> <br />The latest blasts follow a relatively calm day on Friday (November 7) in the area, where Islamic State militants and Kurdish fighters have been clashing over the strategic Syrian town.<br/> <br />Kobani has been encircled by the Sunni Muslim insurgents for more than 40 days. Weeks of U.S.-led air strikes have failed to break their stranglehold.<br/> <br />Iraqi Kurdish forces have blunted but not broken the siege of Kobani, a week after arriving to great fanfare with heavy weapons and fighters in a bid to save it from Islamic State.<br/> <br />Kobani has become a test of the U.S.-led coalition's ability to halt the advance of the Sunni Muslim insurgents. The town is one of few areas in Syria where it can co-ordinate air strikes with operations by an effective ground force.<br/> <br />The arrival of the Iraqi Kurd peshmerga,
