A group of 150 Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have arrived in Turkey from where they plan to cross into Syria to battle Islamic State (IS) militants besieging the town of Kobane.

One contingent flew from Iraq to a south-eastern Turkish airport.

Another contingent, carrying weapons including artillery, is travelling separately by land through Turkey.

Turkey agreed to the deployment last week after refusing to allow Turkish Kurds to cross the border to fight.

Thousands of cheering, flag-waving supporters gathered to see off the Kurds as they left the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Irbil by plane.

The first batch of Peshmerga forces landed early on Wednesday at Sanliurfa airport in south-eastern Turkey, according to the AP news agency.

They are then reported to have left the airport in buses escorted by Turkish security forces and are expected to get to Kobane through the Mursitpinar border crossing.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rejected claims that he was not doing enough to end the jihadist assault.

He told the BBC that Turkey would only take part once the US-led coalition against IS had an "integrated strategy" that included action against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Kurdistan Parliament authorised sending 150 Peshmerga to help defend the predominantly Kurdish Syrian town last week. It was unclear why their deployment was delayed.

The Kurdish population in both Iraq and Syria is under significant threat because of the rapid advance by IS.

US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that America would "certainly encourage'' the deployment of Iraqi Peshmerga forces to Kobane.

The battle for Kobane has emerged as a major test of whether the coalition's air campaign can push back IS.

Weeks of air strikes in and around Kobane have allowed Kurdish fighters to prevent it from falling, but clashes continued on Tuesday and a local Kurdish commander said IS still controlled 40% of the town.

More than 800 people have been killed since the jihadist group launched an offensive on Kobane six weeks ago.

The fighting has also forced more than 200,000 people to flee across the Turkish border.

IS has declared the formation of a caliphate in the large swathes of Syria and Iraq it has seized since 2013.

The UN says that millions of Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict have had an "enormous" impact on neighbouring countries in terms of "economics, public services, the social fabric of communities and the welfare of families".

More than three million Syrians have fled their country since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011, with most of them now sheltering in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.

(BBC)