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TORONTO—A Canadian army veteran killed in northern Syria last week was shot at close range by a gunman who approached him during the early morning darkness, according to two fighters who were nearby at the time.

Refuting reports that John Robert Gallagher was killed by a suicide bomber, both told the National Post he had actually died of a gunshot wound to the leg. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighter who shot him was killed.

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“He died amongst friends and brothers,” said one of them, who had fought alongside Gallagher and said he was 500 metres away at the time of last Wednesday incident near Hasakeh, where they were trying to retake a village from ISIL.

He said Gallagher was “set up near a house in the prone position and then a man approached him.” Apparently unsure who the man was, Gallagher spoke to him. The man then pulled his gun and the others, realizing he was ISIL, shot him.

But as the enemy fighter was falling, he let off a burst of gunfire and one of the bullets struck Gallagher’s hip. “There was massive internal bleeding.