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A hairdresser from the UK fighting against Islamic State terrorists has revealed he is prepared to kill fellow Brits who have joined the militants.

Mama Kurda, battling on the side of the Kurdish Peshmerga, said he was trying to “save lives” in Iraq and defend our country as he continued to battle the fanatics.

The 26-year-old said he believed the extremists were drugged up before they fought, leaving beheadings and crucifixions in their wake.

Kurdish-born Mama, of Croydon, South London, said: “I am proud to be British and fighting against terrorists to help defend the UK.

"Especially when I read 500 people with the terrorists are from Britain. I have to show to the world there is a British citizen fighting against them.

“They are raping Kurdish women and killing Kurdish kids. But they are not only a threat to the Kurdish people. Once they control here they could attack Europe and the UK. What makes these (Brits) fight with these guys?

“Most of them are young and can be easily brainwashed. I have seen them dead. I have seen them carrying pills and they are drugged up.”

On the beheading of US journalist James Foley, he added: “The things they are doing are unbelievable. If they are not on drugs they can’t do that.”

And asked what he would do if he came face to face with one of the Brits who had joined IS he said: “I would kill him.”

Mama, who moved to South London at the age of 15, was one of the first fighters on to the strategically important Mosul Dam as it was recaptured from IS on Tuesday with the help of US air strikes.

He is urging Western forces not to pull back after air power, including RAF surveillance, helped his Peshmerga fighters finally turn the tide against IS.

It comes after a British-sounding jihadist became the world’s most wanted man for decapitating American James in a blood curdling video posted online this week.

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After cutting off his head the man said in an East London accent that a second journalist Steven Sotloff would be butchered if President Obama continued bombing IS.

But Mama has called on Western forces to stand firm. Speaking to us via video link from Iraq, he said: “Whether the US do air strikes or not, if IS get hold of anyone, they are cutting off their heads.

“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you believe. It has nothing to do with air strikes. They are lying, the US know this.”

After arriving in the UK, Mama studied engineering at Croydon College. He trained as a hairdresser at weekends and has run a salon in nearby Clapham for five years.

He has been defending the Kurdish region armed with an AK47 and an M4 assault rifle for three weeks and has taken part in fierce fire-fights in the towns Makhmur and Gwer.

Speaking of the first day he experienced close combat, he admitted: “I was pretty scared. They come to be killed.

“What I saw from their eyes is they come to be killed 200% because they are brainwashed they will go straight to heaven.”

Asked whether he had killed anyone, he said: “I don’t know but I hope so. I really hope I have that chance because I know what they are. They are inhuman.”

Around 30 million Kurds live in the Kurdistan region, which includes parts of Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The Kurdish people include Yazidis, Christians, Jews and Sunni and Shia Muslims.

The conflict has increased demands there for an independent state. Mama had spent months in Kurdistan capital Erbil earlier this year, working for a construction firm.

(Image: Getty)

But as IS rampaged across the region, international firms based there began pulling out Western staff.

Mama was back in London in July but returned to Erbil in August as towns south west of the city fell to the fanatics.

Suffering a bad cough from nights spent sleeping in the open, he explained: “Things were finally getting good. Banks were opening and international companies were moving in.

"Then suddenly in one week everything changed. All the foreign companies left and there were no jobs. When I saw my Kurdish brothers and sisters being killed by these terrorists I was angry in my heart.

"I couldn’t stop myself and stay home. People say, ‘If you have a British passport why are you doing this? You could get out’. But I am fighting to save people’s lives.”

He and his fellow Peshmerga fighters eat lettuce soup in the morning and have a meal of rice and meat each day.

(Image: Reuters)

When they get a signal they keep in touch with developments on BBC News and a local news channel.

Mama said of the jihadists: “Because we are Kurdish and they are Arab they don’t like us. For us it doesn’t matter if you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Yazidi – we all come together.”

Mama said he had been offered a permanent position in the Kurdish military but refused to take a rank.

He said: “This is not about politics for me. This is temporary, then I want to go back to my normal job. London is a big part of my life. I love the UK.”

Asked whether he thought his time fighting would cause him problems getting back here, he added: “I have been fighting against terrorists and I have full proof so I’m not worried.”

A Home Office spokesman said taking part in overseas conflicts could be a criminal or terror offence. The spokesman added: “UK law makes provisions to deal with conflicts in different ways.

“Fighting in a foreign war is not automatically an offence but will depend on the nature of the conflict and the individual’s own activities.”