Tragic Aylan's final journey: Father of drowned boys returns home to bury his wife and two sons - in the war-torn city of Kobane...

The grief-stricken father of two refugee boys who drowned alongside their mother 
has buried them in Kobane, as it's revealed 11 relatives were slaughtered by Islamic 
State militants in the war-torn city.

Aylan, three, his brother Galip, five, and mother Rehan died when their dinghy 
capsized as they tried to reach the Greek island of Kos in the dead of night.

Today, as their father Abdullah Kurdi accompanied their coffins to Syria, 
it emerged that 11 members of their family were murdered by terrorists in June.

Abdullah Kurdi cradles the body of one of his sons
who drowned when the boat carrying them capsized

Laid to rest: The bodies of Aylan, Galip and Rehan
were laid to rest in a cemetery in Kobane, Syria today

Aylan, Galip and Rehan's coffins lined up in front of a crowd
before being buried in the war-torn town of Kobane

Grief: Abdullah Kurdi weeps as he arrives in Kobane
with the coffins of his family members who drowned

Heart-breaking: Abdullah Kurdi says his final goodbyes
to his two sons and his wife before they are buried

The bodies of Aylan and his brother Galip tragically
washed up on a beach in Turkey after their boat capsized

Crowds gathered in Kobane as the bodies of the two young refugee boys and their 
mother completed their final journey.

Mr Kurdi flew from the coast to Istanbul and then onto the Turkish city of Urfa.

Speaking to the Dogan news agency at Istanbul's Ataturk airport, he still appeared 
to be in shock.

'As a father who lost his children, I want nothing for myself from this world,' he said. 
'All I want is that this tragedy in Syria immediately ends and peace again reigns.'

The family is being buried at a place known as Martyrs' Ceremony in the city.

With the burial, Abdullah Kurdi abandoned any plans of leaving his homeland again.

'He only wanted to go to Europe for the sake of his children,' said Suleiman Kurdi, 
an uncle of the grieving father. 'Now that they're dead, he wants to stay here in 
Kobane next to them.'

Local journalist Mustefa Ebdi, who attended the funeral service, said: 'Aylan, 
his brother, and his mother were buried today in Kobane in front of a large crowd. 
Everyone was very sad and crying.' 

The journalist said Mr Kurdi 'looked broken and numb' as he addressed a gathering 
of hundreds.

'I don't blame anyone else for this. I just blame myself,' Mr Kurdi told the mourners. 
'I will have to pay the price for this the rest of my life.'

He said his children were only a few of the many victims of Syria's four-year conflict 
and pleaded for a 'solution to the tragedies' gripping his country.

Mr Ebdi said he told the boys' father, 'the world is standing with you', but the Mr Kurdi 
said he had nothing left in the world to live for. father gives emotional speech at funeral for his family

Rehan Kurdi, pictured holding her 3-year-old son Aylan,
also died when the boat sank off the coast of Turkey

Galip (right), five, and Aylan Kurdi (left), three,
pictured with their father Abdullah who survived the tragedy

Today the boy's grandfather, Sexo Seno Kurdi told Newsweek: 
'Only a few months ago we lost 11 family members and now this. 
Now my daughter and grandchildren are also fallen martyrs for Kobane.'

Among those killed in June were some of the boys' second cousins and their 
partners, as well as their great-aunt. Some were shot in their homes.

Islamic State fighters battled for four months to seize Kobane last year, 
but Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes regained control in January 
in a symbolic defeat for the jihadists.

In June, ISIS fighters attacked their city, detonating a suicide bomb and battling 
Kurdish forces in the streets.

Civilians and Kurdish fighters were killed as the terror group attacked the town 
on three sides after reportedly coming across the border from Turkey.

Relatives start digging graves for Syrian children Aylan,
his brother and their mother in the city of Kobane

One of the coffins is carried during the funeral of the boys
and their mother who died earlier this week

Abdullah Kurdi mourns at the funeral of his wife
and two sons who drowned as they tried to reach Greece

A relative is inconsolable at the funeral held in Kobane
 - the place the family had risked their lives to leave

Relatives,includingAbdullah (second from right) pray at the bodies of Aylan and his mother and brother  arelaid to rest

This morning, a group of alleged people traffickers - one weeping uncontrollably
- arrived at a court in Bodrum after being arrested on suspicion of organising the
fateful journey.

One man wept as he was taken into the courthouse, while another, Hassan Ali Salih, clutched his mother, Zehra Salih, who came to support him.

She broke down in tears and begged for help, explaining her son was innocent.
Ms Salih said her husband had been killed in the Syrian conflict and her son was
just desperate to flee to safety.

Another man, Mustafa Halil, looked at the floor as he walked into the courthouse.

His mother Meliha Halil said he was not involved in the trafficking and was himself 
trying to get to Europe. They will face a judge at 1.30pm local time.

The four defendants sat outside the courtroom and spoke animatedly with friends 
and family as their mothers cried this morning.

A spokesman for the court in Bodrum said: 'They have not been charged yet 
- we are taking statements from them today. 

'They will appear later but it will be a closed hearing not open to the press.
This is entirely normal under Turkish law.' 

The bodies were flown from the coast to Istanbul and then onto
 the Turkish city of Urfa, before being taken by ambulance
on to Kobane over the border

Abdullah Kurdi stands in the ambulance alongside the body
of one of his relatives who drowned in Turkey

Crowds gathered to greet the bodies of the two boys
and their mother who died when their boat capsized

The two boys and their mother are being buried
at a place known as Martyrs' Ceremony in Kobane, Syria

Their coffins were flown to southern Turkey this morning,
before being taken into the town by ambulance

People in Kobane were distraught as Abdullah brings
home the bodies of his relatives who died earlier this week

Yesterday, Mr Kurdi described how he had pleaded with his sons to keep breathing, 
telling them he did not want them to die as he clung onto the side of the 
overturned boat.

It was only when he looked down at their faces and saw blood in Aylan's eyes that 
he realised the boys had died in his arms and he was forced to let them go. 

Looking around in the water, he spotted the body of his wife Rehan 'floating like 
a balloon'. 

Yesterday his sister Tima revealed how Mr Kurdi had relived the final moments 
of his boys' lives in a phone conversation she'd had with him.

'When a bigger wave came and flipped the boat upside down, Abdullah right away 
caught both his kids and tried so hard with all the power he had to keep them up from the water, screaming, "Breathe, breathe, I don't want you to die",' she said.

Distrau

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Abdullah Kurdi pictured as his family's coffins are taken
by plane from Istanbul to southern Turkey today

Abdullah Kurdi (centre) pictured on the plane which
transported the bodies of his sons and wife this morning

The bodies of Aylan, 3, his brother Galip, 5,
and their mother Rehan arrive in southern Turkey
before being taken to Kobane across the border in Syria

Aylan, his brother Galip and mother Rehan died when
their dinghy capsized as they tried to reach the Greek island of Kos
in the dead of night

'In his left arm was Galip and he saw he was dead and he told me, 
"I had to let him go",' she added.

'Then he looked at Aylan and could see blood from his eyes, so he closed them 
and said, "rest in peace my son", she went on to say.

Abdullah saw his wife's dead body floating in the water 'like a balloon', and he 
struggled to recognise her.  

'He said the water was so calm, crystal clear and that's how he knew it was safe 
to [cross], and Aylan was so happy, so excited for that trip, and he told him, 
"We're going to have fun". Aylan asked, "Where we are going?" and he told him 
Europe,' she said.

'He said 20 minutes later a big wave came in on the jet boat. He was upset with the smugglers, but they said "Don't worry about it, we've done this plenty of times 
and its very safe".' 

He told his sister: 'Now the whole world is going to watch my story, where was the whole world before when my kids were hungry, when I didn't have a job?' 

Grief: Abdullah Kurdi, the father of the two Syrian
refugees found washed up on a beach, arrives at the morgue

Heartbreaking: Abdullah (left) had tried to keep hold
of his family as he clung to the side of an upturned dinghy

Sobbing uncontrollably Abdullah yesterday recalled his terror when the flimsy 
and overcrowded dinghy overturned, causing the night to be pierced by the 
screams of his fellow Syrian refugees as he clung on to his wife.

'I was holding her, but my children slipped through my hands,' he said.

'We tried to cling to the boat, but it was deflating. It was dark and everyone 
was screaming. I could not hear the voices of my children and my wife.'   

Over the following three hellish hours in the water, Mr Kurdi battled for survival. 

The barber had paid people smugglers £2,900 over the course of three attempts 
to reach Greece from a refugee camp in Turkey.

But he has told friends he wished he had also drowned to be spared a lifetime 
of self-recrimination over the family's desperate gamble for a better life.   

Accused: A group of alleged people traffickers
- one weeping uncontrollably - arrived at a court in Bodrum

Court: Mustafa Halil, looked at the ground as he walked
into the courthouse in Bodrum, Turkey, today

Aylan, his brother and his mother died when their dinghy
capsized after they set off from Bodrum, Turkey.
Four men have been accused of organising the journey

The four men accused of organising the trip which killed
the family will face a judge at 1.30pm local time today

Aid agencies have been inundated with donations and offers of help. 
They have even taken calls from families offering to take desperate refugees 
into their homes. 

Mr Kurdi told the Daily Mail: 'I wanted a better life for them, that's why I left. 
I just hope that this photo of my son changes everything.

'We want the world's attention on us, so that they can prevent the same from 
happening to others. 

'Let these be the last things that happened to us here, in the country where 
we took refuge to escape war in our homeland. We want the whole world 
to see this.'  

At a press conference last night she revealed her sister-in-law did not want 
to make the crossing.

She said: 'His wife told me on the phone a week ago "I am so scared of the water. 
I don't know how to swim, if something happens … I don't want to go". 
But I guess they decided they wanted to do it all together.

'Those two kids – they didn't see a good life at all. They didn't deserve to die.'

Tragic moment policeman recovers the body of Aylan Kurdi

A policeman on a Turkish beach gently recovers the body
of little Aylan, 3, who washed up on the beach

Both boys died in the sea alongside their mother, Rehan,
while their father Abdullah Kurdi survived

The young boys are among almost 3,000 migrants
who have already died this year in the Mediterranean

The bodies of the brothers washed up on the beach
in Turkey after the boat they were travelling in capsized

Canadian immigration authorities rejected the Kurdis' application in part because 
of the family's lack of exit visas to ease their passage out of Turkey.

The government also objected to their lack of internationally-recognised refugee 
status, the aunt told the Ottawa Citizen. 

Chris Alexander, the country's immigration minister, yesterday suspended his 
re-election campaign to travel to Ottawa and look into why officials rejected 
the request. 

Later it emerged that Abdullah could face further heartbreak after Ms Kurdi 
revealed that one of his sisters is missing after attempting the same journey.

'There is one sister, actually, I don't know what has happened to her. 
I heard from Abdullah that one smuggler told him she was trying to do the 
same route as him, but we don't know if she crossed, or if she's back in Turkey,'
 she said.

The bodies of the two young refugee boys and their
mother have been accompanied to Kobane by their father

Aylan Kurdi, three, pictured before he died when 
the dinghy capsized shortly into the crossing to Kos

Tima and Abdullah also have a second sister, who is currently in Turkey after 
her house in the city of Kobane was bombed. 

They have a brother, Mohammed, whose young family is in Turkey, although 
he has gone ahead to seek refuge in Germany.

Mr Kurdi and his late wife Rehan, 35, fled Damascus in 2012, first for Aleppo 
and then Kobane. 

Three-year-old Aylan had spent his entire life on the move as his family fled 
the fighting in their homeland.

Friends said they endured shelling in Kobane before leaving last year 
as ISIS forces were poised to seize the town.

Mr Kurdi said he had worked as an odd-job man and sold the family's 
belongings in the streets in a bid to fund their dream of a new life in either 
Canada or Europe.

But once in Turkey, the family hit a bureaucratic dead end because they 
were Kurds.

The route between Bodrum and Kos is one of the shortest from Turkey
to the Greek islands and thousands of people are boarding rubber dinghies
and attempting the perilous sea crossing despite the risks

Two boats capsized off the Turkish coast and
the refugees' belongings washed up on a beach in Bodrum

In desperation, they turned to the people smugglers. Coastguards intercepted 
their boat on their first attempt to reach the Greek island of Kos. 
The second time the traffickers failed to show up at the rendezvous point.

Mr Kurdi said a Turkish smuggler started the third voyage with him and other 
Syrians with whom he had obtained the boat. 

They had been at sea for only four minutes when the dinghy began taking 
on water.

'The captain saw that the waves were so high and as he tried to steer the boat 
we were hit immediately,' said Mr Kurdi. 'He panicked and dived into the 
sea and fled.

'I took over and started steering, but the waves were so high that the boat 
flipped immediately.' 

Mr Kurdi broke down after seeing his sons' bodies in the morgue, running 
from the building and crying out 'My God, my God'. 

Residents in Bodrum said the discovery of bodies on the beach was a grim 
daily reality. At the city's state hospital, director Orhan Yuce said seven children 
drowned on the night Aylan and Galip died. 

'We see this every day. It breaks my heart,' he said.

A migrant is pictured washed up on the sand at a beach
in Bodrum, which is popular with tourists 

Perilous trip: Although only a few miles from Bodrum, 

Turkey, to the Greek island Kos, it is still a dangerous trip

Read more:dailymail.co.uk/news