27-year-old first British woman to join battle against ISIS in Syria

Kimberley first went to Syria to report for a friend's website. Pic/Kimberley Taylor

London: A 27-year-old woman has become the first British woman to join an all-female military unit to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group in Syria. Kimberley Taylor left the UK to join the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), the all-female affiliate army of the People's Protection Units (YPG) of Syrian Kurdistan, in March 2016.

She travelled to the frontline in Syria in October last year and has been involved in the push to re-take Raqqa, the de facto capital of the dreaded terror group. "I'm willing to give my life for this," she told the ‘Guardian' in a phone interview from the frontline base.

"It's for the whole world, for humanity and all oppressed people, everywhere. It's not just [ISIS] killing and raping. It's its systematic mental and physical torture on a scale we can't imagine," she said. Taylor hails from Blackburn in the north west of England and studied Maths at the University of Liverpool. Her journey to Syria began during a trip 18 months ago to report for a friend's humanitarian website.