AKIPRESS.COM - At least 12 people have been killed in clashes between Kurdish protesters and police in Turkey, reports Al-Jazeera.

They are unhappy at perceived Turkish inaction in defending the town of Kobane in Syria from an attack by Islamic State militants.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannon in a number of towns and cities as the disturbances spread across the country, including Ankara and Istanbul.

Curfews were imposed in several predominantly Kurdish cities, reports BBC.

They were mostly enforced in south-eastern Turkey after the unrest, which was worst in the cities of Mardin, Siirt, Batman and Mus.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan said that Turkey was doing "whatever can be done" for Kobane.

He said that it was a "massive lie" that his country had done nothing for the town's inhabitants.

Turkish troops and tanks have lined the border but have not crossed into Syria.

Fresh US-led air strikes have tried to repel IS, but Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kobane was "about to fall".

At least 400 people have died in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, monitors say, and 160,000 Syrians have fled.

If IS captures Kobane, its jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.