MESOP : KURDISH YOUTH GO ISIS ? – KRG: The Number of Kurdish Youths Joining ISIS has Increased

03.08.2014 – Hemin Salih – BasNews, Erbil – A spokesman for a Kurdish Ministry has revealed that following the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) recent attacks in Mosul, the number of Kurdish youths joining the extremist group has increased.

Mariwan Naqishbandi, a spokesman for Kurdistan’s Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs told BasNews that after the Mosul attacks last June, about 200 Kurdish youths have joined ISIS Militants who are currently fighting Peshmerga forces as well as the Iraqi Army.“Before the Mosul attacks, about 200 Kurdish youths were members of ISIS, but now the number has risen to about 400; since the Mosul attacks, the number of Kurdish youths fighting with ISIS has doubled,” said Naqishbandi. He also said that it is now easier for jihadi Kurds who wish to join ISIS. “In the past they had to go to another country (Syria), but now ISIS is our neighbor and they can easily cross in to Mosul and join the group,” Added Naqishbandi. Since the start of the Syrian civil war, scores of Kurdish youth have gone to Syria to join the Jihadi groups and fight the Syrian regime. A number have been killed in the process.