‘ISIS Hunting Club’ formed by eight former British soldiers poses with shotguns as it prepares to fight alongside Kurdish fighters

LONDON,— An eight strong volunteer unit of former British servicemen are preparing to travel to Syrian Kurdistan to fight against militants from the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) militants, it has been claimed.

The ex-soldiers – some of whom have Special Forces training – call themselves the International Volunteer Force and will fight alongside the Kurdish resistance in the north of the country.

Images posted on social media purportedly show the men taking part in special training exercises in Europe ahead of their journey to Syria, where they join an estimated 100 other Western volunteers to have joined the Kurdish peshmerga and YPG armies in the fight against IS jihadists.

The images were posted on a Facebook page titled ‘Sgt Tom’, which carries the colours of the Kurdish flag and disguises the faces of all the men photographed.

The images show the men wearing military fatigues and clothing suited to fighting in a desert environment while clutching large assault rifles.

Alongside captions making threats towards IS militants, one image appears to act a as the group’s manifesto, identifying the leader as the aforementioned ‘Sgt Tom’ who says he is a former serviceman travelling to ‘defeat you [ISIS] and the evil you stand for’.

‘Poor foreign policies, weak government and law have allowed the spread of a cancerous, perverted form of Islam to our shores,’ he adds.

He goes on to state that IS ‘do not have the right to claim Islam as their own property to pervert and undermine a magnificent that to true Muslims, is based on peace’.

‘I am not right wing, nor fascist, I am not anti-Islam nor anti any religion,’ Sgt Tom says before adding ‘I am a free man in a free country and free to fight for freedom and democracy’.

‘Your heinous crimes have stirred my inner morality, I will not turn against peaceful Muslims but I am sickened by what you [IS] do and as such…I volunteer my skill-set to the people of Kurdistan.’

The group have called themselves IVFOR (International Volunteer Force) but some of them are understood to have tattoos bearing the moniker ‘ISIS Hunting Club’.

They will be leaving ‘within weeks’ to join the YPG militias that have so bravely defended Syrian Kurdistan against IS in recent months – most notably in the town of Kobani, which the IS jihadi militants besieged for four months before being flushed out.

Speaking to the Evening Standard newspaper, one of the former soldiers said the group had bought uniforms and are training every day and have even created a lightning a sword based logo and adopted the Latin motto ‘Cita et Certa’, meaning Swift and Sure.

‘I and colleagues have formed a small unit which is open for any English-speaking individuals from any nation,’ the former soldier was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

He added that the group had already raised more than £13,000 to fund their trip – with one of the men selling his sports car to raise the money.

There are estimated to be as many as 100 Western volunteers fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, including ex-public schoolboy Macer Gifford who has joined the fight against ISIS and insisted he would never be captured alive vowing: ‘I’ve got a grenade in my pocket and I’ll take them with me’.

Many of the Britons who have travelled to fight the IS militants are ex-military and have joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit – known as the YPG.

This group have a designated foreign legion for Western fighters, known as the Lions of Rojava, which is believed to be led by American Jordan Matson.

Last month 25-year-old Konstandinos Erik Scurfield became the first Briton to die in action against ISIS, having joined the Lions of Rojava within days of leaving the British army last November.

The former Royal Marine from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was hit by mortar fire while fighting alongside Kurdish forces near the Syrian Kurdish city of Qamishli.

Over the weekend his body was returned to his family in a special ceremony attended by hundreds of Syrian Kurds. His coffin, which was draped in both the Kurdish flag and the Union Jack, was handed over to his father and uncle in a special ceremony on the Syria-Iraq border.

Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, dailymail.co.uk | Ekurd.net

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