Drowned Syrian toddler buried as Europe wrangles over refugees

The father of a drowned Syrian toddler whose fate shocked the world returned home Friday to bury his family as European ministers tried to thrash out differences on binding refugee quotas to ease the crisis.

Britain said it would take thousands more from refugee camps on the Syrian border as the heartbreaking images of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi's lifeless body on a Turkish beach ramped up pressure on political leaders to act.

His father Abdullah Kurdi -- who has told how Aylan and his other young son Ghaleb "slipped through my hands" when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea -- arrived in the Syrian flashpoint border town of Kobane with the funeral caskets of his sons and wife, who also died.

"As a father who lost his children, I want nothing for myself from this world. All I want is that this tragedy in Syria immediately ends," he said on his way to Kobane, which was devastated in clashes between Islamic State militants and Kurdish fighters.

A Turkish gendarmerie carries a young migrant, who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos, in the coastal town of Bodrum, Turkey, September 2, 2015. Image Credit: Reuters 
 

A divided Europe faces growing international criticism over its response to Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II, during which more than 350,00 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean, and around 2,600 people have died.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warned that the EU faced a "defining moment" after little Aylan's death and called for the mandatory resettlement of 200,000 refugees by EU states.

With tensions growing, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday they had agreed the EU should now require member states to take in a fixed number of migrants.

Read: Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande press for "binding" scheme for resettlement of refugees

EU foreign ministers were to discuss the crisis, which has split the bloc between countries like Germany advocating greater solidarity and mainly eastern nations such as Hungary that have taken a hardline approach. Disagreements are rife over Europe's piecemeal migration system and its passport-free Schengen area.

EU rules that asylum claims must be dealt with in the country they first arrive were thrown into turmoil by Germany, which said it will refrain from deporting Syrians.