A British IT worker who left the UK to fight against Islamic State (IS) was shot during battle, he has revealed. Jac Holmes, 22, from Bournemouth, left the UK in January to join the People’s Protection Unit, or YPG – the main Kurdish force in northern Syria. Speaking to BBC South from Syria, Mr Holmes said he was shot in the arm as his unit attempted to take control of a village from IS.
Mr Holmes previously revealed how his interest in the region began in 2011. He started following Kurdish social media accounts, as well as those of western volunteers fighting with Kurds. After leaving the UK in January, he crossed into Syria from Iraq to join YPG in its campaign against IS fighters.
“They [IS] are a horrendous terrorist organisation, they enslave, pillage – they think they’re justified under their version of Islam. Anyone of a sane mind can see there is nothing religious or righteous about it. I can’t get over why anyone would actually join a group like Isis,” he said.
Terrorism expert Dr Anthony Richards, of the University of East London, said he thought it was possible to draw a distinction between those fighting for and against Islamic State. “It is very unlikely that those fighting against Isis [IS] upon their return… are likely to present a domestic threat to the security of the United Kingdom. So my feeling is that the British government perspective that they will take a pragmatic approach to this.”
