War hero honoured
AN Australian killed while combating Islamic State was described as a freedom fighter and hero to Kurds who was willing to lay down his life to protect civilians, a funeral service in Melbourne heard yesterday. Reece Harding, 23, formerly of the Gold Coast, died last month after stepping on a landmine while fighting alongside Kurdish YPG forces, two months after he travelled to the war zone. Up to 1000 members of the Kurdish community attended Harding’s funeral service at the Kurdish Association of Victoria in Pascoe Vale.