Appeal to Save Syrian Town from ISIS

MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — Several Syrian human rights groups have issued a dramatic appeal, calling on the world to save the embattled Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from falling into the hands of the Islamic State group.

The appeal came as more fighting is underway in the town on the Syria-Turkish border.

Seven rights groups, including the Kurdish Organization for Human Rights and the Human Rights Organization in Syria, say Islamic State group's onslaught on the town and the surrounding area, which began in mid-September, represents a "clear form of persecution and ethnic cleansing."

The groups say the fighting has displaced nearly 280,000 people who fled fearing "killings, executions, throat slitting, beheadings, mayhem and kidnapping of women and children."

Meanwhile,

 Canada's Parliament has given the country's military the go ahead to conduct airstrikes in Iraq against the Islamic State militant group.

Lawmakers voted Tuesday to allow airstrikes for up to six months, joining the U.S.-led mission.