Kurdish jihadists fighting in Syria are on the rise

Mewan Dolamari – BasNews (Suliaymania): 10-12-2013 – A Kurdish Security official has revealed that more than two hundred young Kurdish men have travelled to Syria to take part in the civil war and wage Jihad.

In an interview with Kurdish Newspaper Kurdistani Nwe, the head of KRG‘s Security and Intelligence Force, Lahor Sheikh Jangi said: “More than 200 youths from different cities in the Kurdistan Region have gone into Syria to fight against the Syrian regime.”

Since the Syrian civil war began more than two years ago, a number of terrorist groups have entered the country, including Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS).

“These young Kurds are trained in advance and some of them are even trained to commit suicide. We are doing our best to obtain information about these terrorist groups, not only in Kurdistan, but also in Syria,” said Lahor.

Regarding who is behind motivating and sending these young men to Syria, Lahor said: “I can’t determine exactly who is behind sending them to Syria, but I can say that the media outlets controlled by Kurdish Islamic parties have encouraged them to some extent to go and fight in Syria. Social media has also played a role, as people are encouraged through Facebook.” Lahor explained that more than 17 of these youths have been arrested in Suliaymania province. The most recent Kurdish jihadist was arrested in Suliaymania airport as he was coming back from Istanbul, he had fought against Syrian Kurdish forces. Lahor also emphasized that they are collaborating with the Iraqi central government to investigate these youths in order to arrest them and bring them to trial. According to local media, nine Iraqi Kurds have been killed in Syria, so far. The Kurdistan Regional Government has instructed that no funeral processions be held for Iraqi Kurds who die as jihadists. – http://www.basnews.net/en/News/Details/Kurdish-jihadists-fighting-in-Syria-are-on-the-rise/7545