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Anna Campbell death: British woman killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria

Killed in Syria: Anna Campbell was fighting alongside a Kurdish group
Killed in Syria: Anna Campbell was fighting alongside a Kurdish group

A British woman has been killed while fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria.

Anna Campbell, from Lewes, East Sussex, travelled to the war-torn country to fight against so-called Islamic State with the US-backed all-female Kurdish Women’s Protection Units, the YPJ.

The 26-year-old later fought against Turkey after the country’s incursion into Kurdish-held territory in January.

It is feared she was killed by Turkish air strikes.

Her father, Dirk Campbell, said his daughter “would go to any lengths to create the world that she believed in”.

Speaking to the BBC, he added: “I told her of course that she was putting her life in danger, which she knew full well she was doing. I feel I should have done more to persuade her to come back, but she was completely adamant.”

The YPJ is an all-female brigade of the Kurdish People's Protection Units YPG, which has around 50,000 Kurdish men and women fighting against IS in northern Syria.

Ms Campbell is thought to be the first British woman to have been killed in Syria with the YPG or YPJ. Seven British men have died in the country while fighting alongside the groups.

Anna Campbell was fighting in the all-female Kurdish unit the YPJ
Anna Campbell was fighting in the all-female Kurdish unit the YPJ

Mr Campbell said told the BBC he understands his daughter joined her Kurdish comrades when they left the fight against IS to defend Afrin from Turkish forces.

In a statement to The Guardian, YPJ commander and spokeswoman Nesrin Abdullah said Ms Campbell's death was a "great loss".

She told the paper: "Campbell's martyrdom is a great loss to us because with her international soul, her revolutionary spirit, which demonstrated the power of women, she expressed her will in all her actions.

"On behalf of the Women's Defence Units YPJ, we express our deepest condolences to [her] family and we promise to follow the path she took up. We will represent her in the entirety of our struggles."

Conflict between Turkey and Kurdish groups has been inflamed since January.

Over the weekend, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country's military had captured the town centre of Afrin, which was previously controlled by the YPG.

Nearly two months after launching an offensive on the Kurdish territory, he announced that the Turkish flag and that of Syrian opposition fighters had been raised in the town.