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Fierce fighting has erupted in the north of the Syrian town of Kobane, after two days of relative calm, the BBC reported.

Kurdish defenders were thought to have pushed back Islamic State (IS) militants trying to take over the town, including from this area.

US-led forces carried out six air strikes around Kobane on Sunday and Monday, the US military said.

Kobane, on the Turkish border, is a key objective for IS, and the fighting has forced most civilians to leave.

The new fighting came as Turkey said it would allow Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to cross into Syria to fight IS.

The BBC's Kasra Naji on the Turkish border says the decision is a major boost for the defenders' morale, and soon for their fighting capability.

Officials in the Iraqi Kurdish region said they were ready to send forces but had so far received no orders.

Turkey, faced with a long insurgency by its own Kurds, has until now barred access for Kurdish fighters to Syria, but correspondents say Ankara is more sympathetic to Kurds in Iraq.

A senior Kurdish official responsible for defence in Kobane, Ismet Hesen, told the BBC that his forces already had the initiative against IS and they needed heavy weapons rather than extra manpower.

Only hours before Mr Cavusoglu's comments, the US military said it had carried out air drops of weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to the Syrian Kurdish fighters around Kobane.