Isis in Kobani: UN warns 500 trapped civilians 'could be massacred' if border town falls

Only a small portion of Kobani remains open for people to flee

Kurdish refugees fleeing Kobani enter Turkey at Suruc (Getty Images)

More than 500 civilians trapped in Kobani could be “massacred” if Isis militants gain complete control of the border town, the United Nations is warning.

Staffan de Mistura, the new UN envoy to Syria, said their analysis shows only a small portion of Kobani remains open for people to enter or flee the town.

Mr de Mistura said there are about 500 to 700 elderly people and other civilians still trapped in the town, while 10,000 to 13,000 are stuck in an area nearby, close to the Syria-Turkey border.

He warned that if the town falls to Isis, the civilians in Kobani "will be most likely massacred" and the militants will gain control of a large section of the border region. "When there is an imminent threat to civilians, we cannot, we should not be silent," he told the Associated Press.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic militants have seized almost half of Kobani and taken near complete control of an area where the local Kurdish administration is based.

Fighters are now in almost complete control of the "security quarter", which is home to the administrative buildings used by the local government, said Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman.