Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers arrive in Turkey

About 100 Peshmerga fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan have arrived at Sanliurfa airport in south-eastern Turkey, on their way to join the fight against Islamic State militants in Kobane.

Another group of fighters crossed into Turkey in a convoy of 80 lorries carrying heavy weapons towards the border with Syria, the BBC reports.

Turkey agreed to let the Peshmerga cross its territory after coming under increasing international pressure to play a more active role in the US-led coalition against Islamic State, Al Jazeera reports.

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Last week the Iraqi Kurdish regional government in Irbil approved the deployment of Peshmerga fighters to Syria.The Turkish government said it will admit only soldiers who do not have links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is banned in Turkey and regarded as a terrorist organisation in the US and EU, according to The Guardian.Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the BBC that Turkey will only support the international coalition if there is an "integrated policy" which includes action against the forces of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.