(VOVworld) – At least 6 people died and 20 others were injured in Kurdish protests on Thursday against the Turkish government’s lack of military support for the defenders of the Syrian border town of Kobane which is being attacked by Islamic State militants. The latest deaths have raised the casualties to 30 people.

Clashes were reported in several cities in Turkey (Photo: AFP)

In Turkey’s southern border province of Gaziantep, armed clashes have taken place between protestors and the police, and between protesters demonstrating in solidarity with Kobane and groups opposing them, killing 4 and wounding 20 others. Demonstrations also took place in Ankara and Mersin and spread to Germany’s cities of Stuttgart, Manheim, and Karlsruhe where 2,500 Kurds live.

Civilians continue to flee Kobane across the Turkish border

On the same day, the Turkish official news agency, IRNA, quoted the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Hussein Amir Abdollahian, as saying that Iran had begun to persuade Turkey to prevent the IS forces occupying Kobane, the key town in the border area with Syria. Jen Psaki, a spokesperson for the US Department of State, said on Thursday that the joint military force with Turkey will meet in Ankara early next week to discuss the struggle against IS after Washington urged the Ankara authorities to join the US-led international alliance.