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Ron uit Nederland heeft zich bij de Koerden aangesloten om het IS ongedierte te bestrijden. Respect! http://t.co/xES1nmJg8h —

Koerden in NL (@KoerdenNL) October 09, 2014

BERLIN — In a twist to the foreign-fighter syndrome sweeping Europe, a handful of bikers are vowing to bring the pain to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham.

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Already, the leader of the Dutch biker gang No Surrender has claimed that three of his peers have joined the fight against ISIS in the Middle East. But the ranks of “biker fighters” appear to be growing. Now, at least a couple of members of a German biker club say they, too, have signed up.

Why are they going? In Germany, at least, the move appears linked to the bikers’ ethnic backgrounds. The men in question hail from the Cologne chapter of the Median Empire Dark City Motorcycle Club, a group made up largely of ethnic Kurds. The club, founded in 2011, is named after an ancient empire that stretched from eastern Anatolia to India. The only difference between its modern-day members and the great warriors who once roamed ancient lands, the club states on its website, is that today “we are sitting on motorcycles instead of the backs of horses.”

The story of Germany’s fighting bikers has gripped the domestic press, particularly as the men post photos and updates on social media. One post shows two beefy bikers with machine guns slung over their backs as they climb hilly, arid terrain in biker gear.