An American who had volunteered alongside Kurdish forces to wipe out the Islamic State group died in a battle against ISIS, Kurdish officials announced Wednesday. Idris Nassan, Kurdish co-deputy foreign minister of the Kobani district, confirmed the death to NBC News, but did not identify the man by name.
Twitter accounts and Facebook pages, however, identified the fighter as “martyr” Keith Thomas Broomfield. He was allegedly killed in the Syrian countryside surrounding Kobani. A State Department official also told NBC that Broomfield was killed in Syria and U.S. officials have reportedly reached out to Broomfield’s family.
“I didn’t want him to go but I didn’t have a choice in the matter,” said his mother, Donna, in a tearful phone interview with NBC News. She said he traveled to the Middle East four months ago to fight and they had little communication during that time. “I’m waiting for his body to come back,” she added.
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