BREAKING NEWS

Chinese citizen reported to be fighting ISIS in Syria

By REUTERS

DECEMBER 10, 2015 12:31

BEIJING - A young Chinese man has become the first citizen of his country known to have traveled to Syria to fight with the Kurds against Islamic State, a newspaper said on Thursday, running an interview with his sister who called for him to come home.

Pan Yang, from a farming family from a mountainous area in southern Sichuan province, went to Syria via Thailand, Turkey and Lebanon some time around September and ended up fighting with a Kurdish militia, the Huaxi Metropolitan Daily said on its website.

Pan's elderly parents had no idea where Syria is, nor what Islamic State is, his sister, Pan Xiaolan, told the newspaper, expressing worry for his safety.

"Come home quickly," the paper quoted her as saying.

Pan Yang told the BBC's Chinese language site last week that he was fighting with a Kurdish militia called the People's Protection Units, or YPG.

Pan wrote on his Weibo account late on Wednesday he regretted talking to the BBC, saying it could cause Islamic State to target Chinese people in the Middle East.

"I think I've done a really stupid thing," he wrote.

"If I live or die matters not," Pan said, adding that Islamic State also watched the BBC.

"There are lots of compatriots in Iraq and the Middle East. I don't want revenge carried out against them because of me. I'm sorry. My head really hurts. I don't want to see innocent people hurt because of me."

Pan's Weibo account also features pictures of him holding weapons, including rocket launchers.

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