World Bulletin / News Desk

Around 5,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Turkey via the southeastern region of Sanliurfa as clashes between the ISIL and the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) armed militia have intensified in Syrian towns close to the border with Turkey.

According to the Cihan news agency, Syrian refugees flocked to Turkish-Syrian border when the ground battle between extremist ISIL forces and Kurdish People's Defense Units Burkan al-Firat forces escalated between the Tal Abyad and Serekaniye regions -- which are situated just across from Şanlıurfa's Akçakale district -- and air strikes intensified on the ISIL locations.

Around 5,000 Syrian refugees entered into Turkey through the border towns of Pekmezli and Yeşiltepe, with officials from the Akçakale District Governorate and gendarmerie forces monitoring the flow of those escaping the conflict. The refugees will be taken to refugee camps in Akçakale and Suruç after they go through a health and security inspection.

According to PYD political committee member Ömer Alluş, the YPG has taken all roads going to ISIL's stronghold of Raqqa under control.

“The US-led coalition forces bombs ISIL's positions from air and we strike from the Kobani and Serekaniye fronts from the ground. Now, we have drawn near Tal Abyad; 35 kilometers from Serekaniye and 15 kilometers from Tal Abyad,” Alluş quoted as saying.

Tal Abyad is one of the few remaining towns along the border with Turkey still under ISIL control, Kurdish and Arab tribal sources said. Tal Abyad is ISIL's main access point to Turkey from Raqqa.

 The Syrians were being given biometric registration and health checks at Akcakale border crossing, the official added.

Turkey has already accepted 1.8 million people fleeing the bloodshed in neighbouring Syria, officially maintaining an open-border policy for refugees throughout the four-year-old civil war.

In recent months it has partly closed border gates on security grounds, however, prompting aid workers to raise concerns it is blocking people from escaping the fighting.

One aid worker said thousands of people seeking refuge in the last week had been turned back by Turkish border guards, many then heading for different destinations inside Syria.