Islamic State Fighters Re-enter Kobane

Islamic State (IS) fighters reportedly re-entered the key city of Kobane on Wednesday night as they launched a joint attack on Syrian and Kurdish forces.

The jihadists staged a suicide car bombing that wounded dozens in an area near the Turkish border, and fought Kurdish forces in the streets.

"Fierce clashes erupted… in the center of the town and there are bodies lying in the streets," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the BBC. He said fighting was ongoing on Thursday morning.

An official in the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) told Reuters that IS fighters were attacking the town — where Kurdish troops famously drove IS out in January after a months-long assault — from three sides.

Related: 'Welcome to Stalingrad. Welcome to Kobane': Inside the Syrian Town Under Siege by the Islamic State

Hospital officials told the BBC at least 12 people had been killed and some 70 injured so far.

Also on Thursday, IS fighters stormed government-held neighborhoods in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka, capturing several areas.

Syrian state TV reported intense clashes inside the city's southern neighborhood of Nashawi.

Hasaka is divided between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces and Kurdish fighters.

Thursday's attack comes after the IS suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks.

The YPG took complete control of Tal Abyad on the Syrian-Turkish border last week, a town less than 60 miles from Raqqa, the capital of IS's self-proclaimed caliphate. Tal Abyad lies on a key IS supply route.

Syrian Kurdish forces and allied rebel fighters went on to capture a military base and the town of Ain Issa, which lie just 30 miles from Raqqa.

Related: Syrian Kurds and Allies Retake Islamic State-Held Border Town

The Associated Press contributed to this report.