VOA News
January 31, 2015 2:39 PM
Islamic State fighters released a video Saturday acknowledging their defeat in the Syrian town of Kobani, but they vowed they would attack again. #kobani
In the video, two men claiming to be militants said airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were the main reason the group was forced to withdraw from Kobani.
“A while ago, we slowly started retreating from Ayn al-Islam due to the shelling and the murder of some of our brothers,” said one of the fighters in the video, using the name the Islamic State group prefers for Kobani.
Kurdish fighters claimed Monday to have recaptured the embattled border town, after months of fighting there. Much of the city, once home to 200,000 people, is in ruins from the battles.
The turn in the fight for Kobani could prove to be a key defeat for the Islamic State, which over several months has taken control of vast parts of Syria and Iraq.