Mursitpinar, TURKEY — Kurdish forces struggled Tuesday to contain an Islamic State advance on the besieged town of Kobani as extremist fighters pushed into the Syrian border enclave despite renewed airstrikes on militant positions by the U.S.-led coalition.

Fighting has reportedly spread to the town’s western and southern suburbs, with Kurdish militiamen engaging Islamic State fighters in bloody street combat.

Explosions and sustained bursts of gunfire echoed throughout Kobani for much of Tuesday, as Kurdish sympathizers looked from across the border in neighboring Turkey. Much of Kobani’s civilian population has fled to Turkey.

“I cannot sleep. I lay awake all night thinking about my city,” said a distraught Kurdish man who goes by the nickname Abu Ismail, 55.

“All I know is that my city and my life are being destroyed every day,” said Abu Ismail, who was holding his head in his hands as gunfire rang out across the border in Kobani.

Warplanes howled high over the border zone on Tuesday, as the U.S.-led coalition launched fresh airstrikes in support of the Kurds. A flurry of airstrikes came after militants penetrated the city’s eastern areas and raised the group’s black flag on at least one building and a hillside. Columns of smoke arose from apparent airstrikes in the Kobani area.

On the Turkish side of the border, angry Kurds hurled rocks and debris at the amassed Turkish soldiers and police guarding the frontier. Turkish forces peppered the Kurds with tear gas, and Turkish armored vehicles chased protesters through the fields.

Many Kurds are outraged that the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not provided military aid to help defend Kobani and has barred supplies and volunteers from crossing from Turkey into the town.

“Erdogan is the world’s biggest terrorist,” said Hamad, 15, who has been sleeping on the street on the Turkish side of the border. “ISIS are murderers and fanatics but Erdogan will not let anyone help us,” he added, using a common acronym for the Islamic State group.

Kurdish anger with Turkey’s inaction against the militants advancing on Kobani prompted fresh protests throughout Turkey, with a 25-year-old protester killed during clashes with police in an eastern province, local media reported.