After a brutal battle of attrition for the Syrian border town of Kobani, Kurdish forces announced this week that they had taken back control from Islamic State militants. While airstrikes and ground combat are still reportedly underway on the southern outskirts, for the first time in four months Kobani itself is a scene of relative calm.
The fight for the symbolic town -- the target of hundreds of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and where 2,000 Islamic State militants were reportedly killed -- has also left a devastated cityscape pockmarked by bullet holes and filled with bombed-out buildings. In a rare look inside Kobani, Agence France-Presse photojournalist Bulent Kilic has taken a series of incredible images capturing the town and its defenders in the aftermath of the Kurdish victory.
A Kurdish fighter holds his child in the center of the Syrian border town of Kobane, known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A mortar shell sits in the center of the Syrian border town of Kobane, known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A Kurdish fighter talks on the phone in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A Kurdish man talks with a radio as he checks the eastern part of the Syrian border town of Kobane, known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A shell is used as a vase in the Syrian border town of Kobane, known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A cat runs through the wreckage left by fighting on a street in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
The picture shows the wreckage left by fighting on a street in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
A Kurdish fighter walks through the wreckage of a building in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
Kurdish fighters walk through the wreckage left by fighting on a street in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
Kurdish fighters stand in the center of the Syrian border town of Kobane, known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
Kurdish children stand in the center of the Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 28, 2015. (Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
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