A FUNERAL has been held for a Bournemouth man who fought against Islamic State alongside Kurdish militia in Syria.
Jac Holmes, a sniper in the Kurdistan People’s Protection Units (YPG), was killed in October as he helped clear the newly-liberated city of Raqqa of explosive devices.
A funeral was held in Wimborne for the 24-year-old, which was attended by hundreds of Kurdish people from across the UK.
Jac died in Raqqa while attempting to diffuse a suicide vest.
He’d been serving with the YPG, in their protracted fight with Islamic State for almost three years. His body was later repatriated to the UK, where a postmortem was carried out.
The cause of death was listed as ‘severe blast head injuries’, a recent inquest in Bournemouth heard.
Jac, who had worked in Bournemouth in the IT industry, had no previous military experience when he decided to travel to the warzone.
As previously reported, Jac’s mum, Angie Blannin, said she was “extremely proud” of her son.
“He stood up for what he believed in and he had the courage of his convictions to go out and do something where he thought that the West were not doing enough,” she said.
“To defeat Isis he felt that it was not just a Syrian problem, or Middle Eastern problem, it was a world problem.
“He wanted to go and do something about that and not just be a keyboard warrior.”
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