Man reported to be first Chinese citizen fighting ISIS in Syria

Fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units driving a tank through Hasakeh, Syria, on Aug 2, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING (Reuters) - A young Chinese man has become the first citizen of his country known to have travelled to Syria to fight with the Kurds against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a newspaper said on Thursday (Dec 10), 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 ISIS 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 ISIS 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 ISIS 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.

The newspaper did not give specify Pan's ethnicity or religion but judging from his name and the fact he is from Sichuan, he would appear to be a member of the majority Han Chinese community.

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Chinese government says some Uighurs, a mainly Muslim people from China's violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang, have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight with militant groups there.

Last month, ISIS said it had killed a Chinese hostage, prompting outrage in Beijing.

The BBC said Pan was inspired by the story of a British Chinese person who had joined a Kurdish group fighting Islamic State.

"People should do interesting things ... For me, what I can do is pick up a gun and go to war," he told the BBC.

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