Defend Iraqi Towns

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he had been informed that agreement was reached for 200 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to pass through Turkey to help defend the Syrian border town of Kobani against Islamic State militants.

When Islamic State fighters tried to storm the Tigris River town of Dhuluiya north of Baghdad this week, they were repelled by a rare coalition of Sunni tribal fighters inside the town and Shi'ites in its sister city Balad on the opposite bank.

In the Iraqi town of Taza Khurmatu, a motley brigade of Shiite Turkmen locals adjust their weapons and headscarves before heading out to defend their homes from encroaching Sunni militants.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday he had been informed that agreement was reached for 200 Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to pass through Turkey to help defend the Syrian border town of Kobani against Islamic State militants.

When Islamic State fighters tried to storm the Tigris River town of Dhuluiya north of Baghdad this week, they were repelled by a rare coalition of Sunni tribal fighters inside the town and Shi'ites in its sister city Balad on the opposite bank.

In the Iraqi town of Taza Khurmatu, a motley brigade of Shiite Turkmen locals adjust their weapons and headscarves before heading out to defend their homes from encroaching Sunni militants.