Australian Ash Johnston (Heval Bagok Sherhad) is the first Western soldier killed fighting against ISIS with the Kurdish peshmerga.
The former army reservist was killed fighting with the Peshmerga against ISIS in Iraq. (Kurdish Question)
@EmmaMcBryde
Name:JONSTON ASHLEY
code name:Heval Bagok
country :Australia
https://t.co/msQ0SOCJSI pic.twitter.com/Pyc49L8q8c
— KurdishPhoto (@KurdishPhoto1) February 26, 2015
The Australian reported:
FORMER Queensland army reservist Ash Johnston has become the first Western fighter to be killed by Islamic State while fighting with Kurdish forces, after leaving the comforts of Canberra to help efforts to eradicate the terror group in Iraq.
Mr Johnston, 28, had spent seven years in the Army reserve but had only experienced peacekeeping missions prior to joining the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in fighting the Islamic State, adopting the name Heval Bagok Sherhad.
The Defence Department confirmed the former reservist is believed to be dead.
“Defence is aware that a former Australian Army Reserve member is believed to have been killed in northern Iraq while allegedly fighting with Peshmerga forces against Daesh (Islamic State),” Defence said in a statement.
“Due to the provisions of the Privacy Act, Defence will not release further information about the former member’s military service or their personal details.”
ISIS linked Twitter accounts reported the news yesterday.
#AFP: First #Australia|n ‘volunteer’ Heval Bagok killed in war against #ISIS.. #Syria #Iraq pic.twitter.com/ocbzu8WDfP
— Rami (@RamiAlLolah) February 25, 2015
