Ceylan Ozalp, 19, was reportedly surrounded by ISIS fighters near the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobane. (Couresty of
Last Update: Sunday, 5 October 2014 KSA 22:19 - GMT 19:19 the BBC)
Kurdish female fighter ‘killed herself’ to avoid being ISIS hostage
By Staff Writer, Al Arabiya News
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Sunday, 5 October 2014
A Syrian Kurdish female combatant, who appeared on a BBC report in September, shot herself with a last bullet during fighting with militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) last week, according to media reports.
Ceylan Ozalp, 19, was reportedly surrounded by ISIS fighters near the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobane also known as Ain al-Arab. After she run out of ammunition Ozalp said “goodbye” over the radio and spent her last bullet on killing herself.
The reports of her suicide, which follows the beheading of seven men and three women by ISIS in Kobane earlier this week, took social media by storm and appeared in several Turkish news WEBSITES
such as the daily Radikal.
such as the daily Radikal.
But other reports suggested Ozalp, also known as Diren –which means “resist” in Turkish, never left the northern Syrian town of Jezaa, which is still under the Kurdish control, according toInternational Business Times.
Al Arabiya News Channel could not independently verify the authenticity of the report on her suicide.
During her interview with the BBC last month, Ozalp said: “We’re not scared of anything…We’ll fight to the last. We’d rather blow ourselves up than be captured by IS (ISIS).”
“When they see a woman with a gun, they’re so afraid they begin to shake. They portray themselves as tough guys to the world. But when they see us with our guns they run away. They see a woman as just a small thing. But one of our women is WORTH a hundred of their men,” Ozalp told the BBC.
a hundred of their men,” Ozalp told the BBC.
Like Ozalp, many Syrian Kurdish women have joined the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), an offshoot of the guerrilla group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Pictures of these Syrian Kurdish female combatants carrying their Kalashnikovs, or those of their Kurdish Iraqi counterparts - the Peshmergettes - stand out as a striking anomaly in the region’s often male-dominated conflicts.
Several reports accuse ISIS of using female hostages as sex-slaves, often citing stories of Yazidi women – or other minorities – being married off to ISIS fighters.
The United Nations last week said ISIS has committed mass killings, kidnapped women and girls and used them as sex slaves and employed children as fighters, in systematic violations that may amount to war crimes.
In a report based on nearly 500 interviews, the United Nations also blamed air strikes carried out by the Iraqi government for “significant civilian deaths,” by targeting villages, a school and hospitals in violation of international law.
U.N. High Commissioner for HUMAN RIGHTS Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said: “The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL (ISIS) and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.”
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said: “The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL (ISIS) and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.”
Last Update: Sunday, 5 October 2014 KSA 22:16 - GMT 19:16
Kurdish female fighter blows herself up on ISIS
AFP, Beirut
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Sunday, 5 October 2014
A female Kurdish fighter carried out a suicide bomb attack against jihadists from the Islamic State group outside the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane on Sunday, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for HUMAN RIGHTS said the woman blew herself up at an ISIS position east of the city, killing a number of jihadists who have surrounded Kobane and are battling to seize it.
said the woman blew herself up at an ISIS position east of the city, killing a number of jihadists who have surrounded Kobane and are battling to seize it.
"The operation caused deaths, but there is no confirmed number," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
He said it was the first reported instance of a female Kurdish fighter carrying out a suicide bombing against the Islamic State group, which has itself often favored the tactic.
ISIS began its advance on Kobane, Syria's third largest Kurdish town, on September 16, seeking to cement its grip over a long stretch of the Syria-Turkey border.
The fighting around the town, also known as Ain al-Arab, has prompted a mass exodus of residents from the area, with some 186,000 fleeing across the border into Turkey.
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