First Brit Killed Fighting ISIS: Who Was He?

A Kurdish militia has announced that a British citizen who joined them in their battle against the Islamic State has perished, making him the first Brit to die in action against the terrorist Islamist group.

The BBC reports the Brit was a man named Konstandinos Erik Sculfield, and he hailed from the small city of Barnsley. Sculfield was fighting with the Kurdish People's Protection Units, a militia more typically known by its acronym of YPG. The YPG represents Syrian Kurds, while the more famous Kurdish fighters referred to as the pesh merga are typically associated with Iraqi Kurds.

Sculfield was killed in battle near the western Syrian city of Qamishli on March 2. The YPG has asked Sculfield's family for permission to bury him in Syria as a martyr for their cause. In the communication announcing his death, the YPG described Sculfield as a "British volunteer martyr. The family has not yet responded to the group's request.

The British Foreign Ministry said that they have heard of the reports of Sculfield's death and are working to confirm them. The ministry said that verifying Sculfield's death would take some time as their are no representatives of the Crown currently in Syria.

The BBC says that of the 30,000 fighters in the YPG, around 100 are British. Although recently more Westerners have traveled to Syria and Iraq to help the Kurds or fight ISIS, the number of Westerners who have joined ISIS is much larger. For example, while 100 Brits are currently fighting against ISIS, around 500 are fighting for the terrorist group.

It is unclear how Western governments will treat people who go to fight against ISIS and then return home. People who travel to Syria to fight against the government of Bashar al Assad are typically arrested or placed under intense surveillance on their return to their homelands, even if they did not fight with ISIS.