The Turkish military has deployed tanks to the Syrian border where thousands of refugees - many of them ethnic Kurds - have gathered, fleeing from murderous Islamic State militants. The porous border is believed to be the main route for Western would-be jihadists to join up with IS and other extremist groups in the Middle East as recruits fly into airports popular with tourists in southern Turkey, before easily slipping over the border into war-torn Syria. But armed forces have rushed to control the barbed wire territory line which is now a key route of escape for Syrian Kurds. Meanwhile, Kurdish forces in northern Syria pushed back an advance by Islamic State fighters towards a strategic town on the Turkish border on Thursday and appealed for U.S.-led air strikes to target the insurgents' tanks and heavy armaments.
@highlight
Turkish military sent armor and soldiers to border with Syria to control influx of refugees fleeing Islamic State
@highlight
Thousands of refugees have gathered near Sanliurfa, just a few miles west of IS militant base near Kobani
@highlight
Soldiers are also trying to control flow of Kurdish men trying to go in the opposite direction to fight against IS
@highlight
At least 140,000 Kurds have fled  into Turkey from Syrian border town in just six days, the UN claims
An estimated 1,300 people crossed into @placeholder on Wednesday alone, and the total number since the fighting began near Kobani had risen to 144,000, according to the United Nations.