Flow of Kurdish refugees slows

The numbers of Kurdish refugees fleeing into Turkey to escape the advance of Islamic State jihadists in northern Syria has slowed considerably over the last few days, Turkish officials said on Wednesday.

Some 140,000 mainly Kurdish refugees have now crossed the border into Turkey after the militants moved on the town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane to Kurds, late last week.

But after the flight of tens of thousands over the weekend triggered fears of a new refugee crisis, with Turkey already hosting some Syrian 1.5 million refugees from the three-and-a-half year conflict, the flow has now steadied.

On Wednesday a few hundred Syrians, mainly women, children and the elderly, were making their way across the only border crossing still open to refugees in Yumurtalik in southern Turkey.

"We are not expecting anything more today. The rhythm has considerably dropped," a Turkish official, who asked not to be named, told AFP. 

US-led air strikes against IS targets in Syria just over the border did not appear to have prompted a new wave of refugees, the source said.

"We are not anticipating any new wave of refugees for the moment," said the official, adding: "We think that most of the Syrians who wanted to leave the country have already done so."