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By Jilly Beattie and Maurice Fitzmaurice

A Northern Ireland man has joined Syrian rebels in their bloody conflict after telling his mother he was going to Turkey for a holiday.

Eamon Bradley is believed to have been in the war-ravaged country for a number of months now.

The 25-year-old, from Derry’s Creggan area, has recently completed his guerrilla training and has told family and friends he is ready to fight and die if he has to.

Speaking at the family home on Tuesday, one of Eamon’s brothers told the Daily Mirror they believe “he must have been brainwashed” and that the family “tried to stop him, but there was nothing we could do”.

The brother did not want to go into details, but when asked if the family fear Eamon has joined the extremist ISIS group that is carrying out mass executions and imposing strict Islamic law, he confirmed his brother has been in touch to say he has not got involved with the Sunni fundamentalists.

He said: “My ma and da were wild worried about that last week and my da texted him and asked what about this religious crowd and he said, ‘Listen, we’re against them ones, we’re fighting against them’.”

The brother added Eamon has been in touch in the past week regarding ISIS and told them, “Don’t worry”.

He insisted Eamon is “a good fella” and not an extremist.

But he said his brother had held back the details of his conversion to Islam.

He added: “He got into the Bible first and then he got into the Qur’an. He was obviously taken advantage of.

“We didn’t know what he was doing up in his room for the past three years. Then he’s away.

“I just don’t understand how he got into it, how someone from up around here got into it.”

Images on Eamon’s Facebook page indicate a strong interest in Islam and one shows him kneeling in a shelter with three AK-47 style assault rifles propped up in front of him.

Another photo sees him on horseback and showing his early attempts to grow a beard. He is also wearing combat gear and a headdress.

One pal said Eamon used to be a typical young guy who liked to party and have a beer before his conversion.

The friend added: “No one understands what he’s doing this for but he has found a cause and a fight that suits him.

“Eamon wants to be a freedom fighter and after he converted to Islam, Syria seemed like a perfect match for him. He said it was like a calling.

“He’s the subject of conversation every time we meet up for a drink.

“No one really gets it. He dropped out of circulation a while ago and no one knew what he was up to.

"Then the next thing I hear is he had been getting heavily involved in the Bible.

“I thought he’d maybe train as a priest and thought nothing more about it.”

But jobless Eamon, who was born into a Catholic home in the Creggan estate, swapped the Bible studies for the Qur’an after buying one in the city.

His friend said: “Now we know he was studying the Qur’an and got an idea he wanted to convert to Islam. He said it’s the only true faith, a faith for real people and real living.

“But then things went nuts because he cleared off to Syria and retrained as a rebel fighter. I think he fell foul of some group who indoctrinated him.”

Eamon’s conversion came after a teenage phase spent partying which continued into his 20s – and feeling disillusioned, he sought more meaning in his life.

The pal added: “Eamon was always having a laugh and a load of drink.

“He was partying really hard and has a reputation for being a party animal.

“He was known for being a decent fella and a good lad. He never went completely overboard like some of the crowd.

“I often thought he was a wee bit different to the rest of them.

“And now I know I was right. One minute he’s living in the Creggan off Westway Road and the next he’s shacked up in a desert carrying an AK-47.”

Eamon told his parents he was heading out to Turkey for a two-week holiday and left with his Irish passport from Dublin airport.

But it is understood he met up with a contact in Turkey he was introduced to online who helped him get passage to Syria.

It is believed Eamon was trained in guerrilla warfare by rebel forces in the country, has been learning the language and is now battle-ready.

One source familiar with how people from the West end up fighting in Syria said they “usually come in through Turkey”.

The source added: “When I was there last summer there were hundreds from around the world, including southern Ireland.

“They say now there are more foreign fighters in Syria than at the height of the Iraq conflict.

“They claim they are aid workers.

“I met Canadians and Americans, not born Muslims but converts and very radical.”

Eamon’s friend said his pal wanted to do “something better” with his life.

He added: “He was looking for a focus and a reason and he wanted to give something back to life.

“For a while he had been hanging about with a crowd of people who were in and out of trouble with the police and the authorities but he never went to jail himself.

“But suddenly there was a change in Eamon. He started reading the Bible and he was looking for guidance about how to live his life.

“He wanted to stop drinking and carrying on because he thought his life was useless.

“He did stop drinking and kept himself to himself with only a few calls and a bit of contact. I knew something serious was up when I saw the changes on his Facebook page.

“Now we know he was slowly turning his back on Western ways and that included his old crowd of party animals.

“His family were frantic when they found out he was in Syria because they think they’ll never see him again.”

The former pupil at St Joseph’s Boys’ School in Derry from 2000, Eamon was described by a source yesterday as an average pupil with a capacity to learn that was not explored to its full.

His pal said: “It’s madness. I was told his brother is very upset with him for putting his family through the worry and upset.

“But he withdrew from his mates and from his family to make this change in his life.”