Beirut, Sep 22 (IANS/EFE): The Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical organisation has seized control over more than 100 Kurdish villages near Kobani city in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, a Kurdish source told Efe news agency Monday.

Esmat Sheikh Hassan, the chief of defence and self-protection in Kobani, said during a phone conversation that IS radicals had advanced and were only 12 km away from the city.

IS jihadis have been attacking Kobani, one of the main Kurdish enclaves in Syria, since last Tuesday, causing more than 100,000 Kurds to flee to Turkey, according to figures released by the UN ' refugee agency.

Hassan said heavy clashes were taking place between the jihadis and the People's Protection Units in the eastern, southern and western areas of Kobani.

The radicals were using heavy weapons, including tanks, in their offensive, the Kurdish official added, as he called for help from the international community to avoid a "massacre."

Hassan warned that the humanitarian situation in Kobani was serious and its inhabitants were in need of food and water.

The IS proclaimed an Islamic caliphate June 29 in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq.

The Kurds, who live in Iraq, Syria and other nearby countries, have become a target for the Sunni radicals due to their stiff resistance to the advance of IS forces and their opposition to the extremists' strict interpretation of Islam.

The Syrian Kurds make up 9 percent of the population and are concentrated mainly in the north and northeast of the country.