A serving British soldier has left his base to join Kurdish fighters battling against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, it has emerged.

The 19-year-old, who is understood to be a private serving with the 2nd Battalion of The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, is the first UK soldier to have abandoned the Army to fight Islamist jihadists.

In a text message to his mother before he went to fight, he wrote: 'I really want and need to do this and I will be safe... I'm so sorry to put you through this.'

It is believed the soldier, who is said to have once shared a barracks with murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby, had previously gone to Iraq to train the Kurdish Peshmerga.

The 19-year-old is said to have told his family that helping the Kurdish peshmerga in their battle against the extremists in Syria and Iraq was something he 'needed to do'

The soldier was stationed in Cyprus but had been on leave in Dubai when he decided to go to Iraq. His route is unknown.

The man, who has not been named for security reasons, told his parents that he was leaving two days ago in a text message.

A text message to his family said: ‘I have good skills and I can speak the language, I can help these people and help with this fight.’

BATTLING ISIS: KURDISH FORCES AND THE FIGHT FOR KOBANE ISIS launched its unexpected assault on the strategic Syrian border town of Kobane in September. Over the following four months, men and women belonging to the Kurdish Syrian Kurds' People's Protection Units (YPG) and the the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) resistance groups defied all odds and prevented the Islamist militants capturing the city centre, while American and Arab warplanes bombarded ISIS-held buildings from above. Kurdish peshmerga forces from neighbouring Iraq later travelled to join the fight, giving the embattled ground forces a much needed boost. ISIS lifted the siege of Kobane in January after the city became little more than a death trap for them, retreating to their terror strongholds approximately 20 miles away and leaving the schools, municipal buildings and roads in Shahine's neighborhood as little more than rubble-strewn ruins. Advertisement

He added: 'I will get in trouble for being AWOL, but it's minor and no prison sentence.'

His mother was last night understood to be beside herself with worry. The soldier is not yet officially AWOL – absent without leave – because he is still on leave.

An Army source said that if he outstayed this he could face a court martial. The source added: ‘But our concern at the moment is just getting him back as quickly and as safely as possible.’

The teenager has been in the Army since leaving school at 16 and is known to have been learning Arabic.

It was reported this morning that he once shared a barracks with Lee Rigby, the Fusilier who was murdered by two Islamist fanatics in the streets of Woolwich, south-east London in 2013.

While he is believed to be the first serving soldier to travel to the region to fight, hundreds of former soldiers from Britain, the US and Canada are planning to do so.

Ex-special forces are among those who have contacted a private security company saying they want to help the Kurds.

It is understood the soldier was ‘driven by his conviction that the Kurds need the help of the British, they need help with trained soldiers who can travel to the region’, according to a Sky reporter.

Correspondent Ashish Joshi, who has spoken to the family, said: ‘He speaks the language, he is travelling out there and he thinks he can make a difference to the cause.’

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'We are aware of these reports and are looking into them.'

The teenager joins a number of young Europeans who have travelled to the region to fight on behalf of the Kurds who are defending their communities from the advance of Sunni Islamists.

It is understood he has joined a group that call themselves the Lions Of Rojava, who boast, 'It is better to live one day as a Lion that a thousand days as a sheep.'

He is understood to be a private serving with the 2nd Battalion of The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment and is the first UK soldier to have abandoned the Army to fight Islamist jihadists

The serviceman, who has not been named for security reasons, was stationed in Cyprus and is believed to have travelled to the region via Dubai while on annual leave. He is thought to have then entered Iraq

The soldier is thought to be the first serving member of the Armed Forces to join the peshmerga, though a number of former servicemen are believed to have gone to fight.

In December it emerged that two former British soldiers had travelled to Syria to fight against ISIS after feeling 'compelled' to take up arms following the murder of aid volunteer Alan Henning.

James Hughes, 26, and Jamie Read, 24, are helping Kurdish peshmerga defend the embattled city of Kobani from the brutal terror group, whose ranks reportedly include 2,000 British Muslim recruits.

Photographs posted on Facebook show the pair on the Syrian frontline dressed in combat fatigues and armed with assault rifles, posing in bullet-scarred buildings.

Earlier today, a sickening new video emerged showing hundreds of savage supporters of the Islamic State kicking, punching and stamping three terrified Syrian soldiers to death before dragging their bloodied corpses through the streets chained to the back of motorcycles.

The barbaric footage is believed to have been filmed in the terror group's de facto capital Raqqa and bears all the chilling hallmarks of ISIS' professionally produced and edited propaganda films.

The man told his friends he intended to spend a year in the region, but he is not yet officially AWOL- absent without leave - because he is officially still on annual leave

The soldier is thought to be the first serving member of the Armed Forces to join the peshmerga, though a number of former servicemen are believed to have gone to fight. Above, an ISIS militant in Raqqa, Syria

The gruesome killing of three Syrian soldiers is just the latest in a long line of horrific filmed murders released by the Sunni Islamists since last summer's self-declaration of a caliphate in the vast areas of Syria and Iraq they control through a campaign of rape, massacre and brutal oppression.

Security forces also estimate some 600 British Muslims have traveled to Syria to join the conflict there, some of them with ISIS.

Around half have since returned, and dozens have been arrested in Britain under anti-terrorism legislation.

Peshmerga forces have been fighting IS in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq and trying to surround the city of Mosul to cut off IS supply lines from Syria.

Islamic State has caused international alarm by capturing large expanses of Iraq and Syria, declaring an Islamic 'caliphate' and erasing borders between the two.

British forces have been taking part in air raids on IS in Iraq but only a handful of troops remain on the ground in the country, in a training capacity.