A 36-year-old US citizen has reportedly been killed in Syria while fighting alongside Kurdish forces against the ISIL terrorist group.
The US State Department confirmed the death of Keith Broomfield from Massachusetts on Wednesday but provided no details about the circumstances.
Broomfield became the first American to die fighting with Kurds in an attempt to drive the ISIL militants from Kurdish regions in northern Syria and Iraq.
The American joined the YPG, the armed wing of the Kurdish People's Protection Units, in late February and was killed during a June 3 battle in the village of Qentere, near the border town of Kobani, said an official with the Kurdish forces.
A British citizen, an Australian and a German woman have previously been killed fighting alongside the Kurds.
While Broomfield was reportedly fighting against ISIL, US intelligence and military officials have warned about a growing number of American youths traveling to the Middle East to join the Takfiri terrorists.
US Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said about 180 American citizens have so far jointed or tried to join the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
“We continue to believe the number of Americans who have aimed to join the fight either going into Iraq and Syria, or trying to and being stopped in that effort, is in the neighborhood of a 180,” Rhodes told reporters on Wednesday.
Recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria have raised serious doubts about US President Barack Obama’s strategy, months after he announced an open-ended military air campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the ISIL forces by enlisting the support of scores of allies.
At the G7 summit in Germany on Monday, Obama admitted that “we don’t yet have a complete strategy” against the ISIL group.
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