The Islamic State extremist group killed at least 146 civilians in an attack on the northern town of Kobane and a nearby village, among them women, children and the elderly, a monitoring group said on Friday.
Dozens of old people, children and women were among civilians shot dead by IS fighters, and 200 civilians were wounded, some of them critically, the UK-based Syrian Human Rights monitor said.
Women and children were also killed in the attack on the village of Barkh Botan, south of Kobane, said the monitor, which relies on a network of activists and medics inside Syria for its information.
The IS militants were allegedly wearing the uniforms of their Kurdish YPG militia and Syrian rebels, when they launched the dawn attack.
The slayings were the second-biggest civilian massacre in Syria by IS since it killed over 930 members of the Sunni Sheitaat tribe in rural areas of Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province last year.
Friday's massacre took place after IS militants shot dead 20 civilians in a village some 35 kilometres south of Kobane during its assault on the city on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory.
Fighting between the YPG militia and Islamic State fighters who infiltrated the predominantly Kurdish border town on Thursday continued into a second day on Friday, the Syrian Observatory said.
The United Nations said 60,000 people had fled their homes and the northeastern city of Hasaka and up to 200,000 people might try to flee, amid a separate Islamic State attack on government-held areas of the city.
The group wrested control of at least one district of Hasaka city in a raid there on Thursday. The city is divided into zones run separately by the Syrian government and the Kurdish administration that controls the YPG.
The apparent two-pronged IS offensive came as Kurdish YPG fighters cut a major supply line for IS near its stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria.
IS has recently suffered a string of defeats to Kurdish forces who in January re-took Kobane after IS launched a major offensive on the city last September, prompting more than 100,000 people to flee to Turkey.
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