Some 130,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees fleeing an offensive by Isis (also known as Islamic State) have crossed the border into Turkey since Thursday 18 September.

Numan Kurtulmus, Turkey's deputy prime minister, warned the number could rise further as the militants press ahead with an onslaught.

The refugees began flooding into Turkey after the Jihadist militants seized dozens of villages near the strategic border town of Kobani, committing massacres, stonings, beheadings and torching of homes.

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Turkish soldiers stand guard as Syrian Kurds wait behind the border fences near the town of Suruc Reuters
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An elderly Syrian Kurd woman is carried across into Turkey AFP
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People spray water on a woman suffering from heat exhaustion AFP
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A Kurdish family carrying their belongings arrive in the Turkish town of Suruc AFP
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Syrian Kurds use blankets to help them cross a barbed wire border fence into Turkey AFP
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Kurds carrying their belongings cross the border between Syria and Turkey AFP
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Syrian Kurds wait at the Turkish police checkpoint near the town of Suruc AFP
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A Syrian Kurdish girl looks up at Turkish police officers as she crosses the border AFP
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A Syrian Kurdish refugee waits after crossing the Turkish border near the town of Suruc. Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds have flooded into Turkey, fleeing an onslaught by the jihadist Islamic State group AFP
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Syrian Kurds look at smoke billowing into the air after a mortar landed near the border AFP
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A Syrian Kurdish boy who sustained injuries in a mine blast receives first aid from medics on the Turkish side of the border Reuters
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A woman pulls a wheelchair across rocky ground after crossing the border between Syria and Turkey AFP
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A Syrian Kurd carries an elderly man into Turkey AFP
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People pour water on a child after they crossed the border in the blazing sun AFP

As the refugees poured in, Turkey briefly shut down the border crossing at Kucuk Kendirciler to Turkish Kurds to block them from joining the fight in Syria.

That caused clashes between stone-throwing Kurds, who tried to approach the border crossing from inside Turkey, and security forces who fired tear gas, paint pellets and water cannons.

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Kurdish protesters throw stones at Turkish soldiers during clashes near the Syrian border after authorities temporarily closed the border AFP
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Kurdish people clash with Turkish soldiers near the Syrian border AFP

More than a million people had already fled into Turkey since the conflict in Syria began three-and-a-half years ago.

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