Western Mail

Briton fighting Isis killed clearing mines

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A British man who travelled to Syria to fight against Islamic State has been killed while clearing mines in the recently liberated city of Raqqa.

The man, named as 24-yearold Oliver Hall, from the Portsmouth area, had only been in the war-torn country for about four months when he died.

He was said to have been clearing mines from Raqqa, which had been under the socalled caliphate’s control for three and a half years, with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) when he was caught in an explosion and fatally injured.

His family informed.

A statement from Mark Campbell, co-chairman of the Kurdish Solidarity Campaign, have been said: “It is with deep regret and sorrow that I can confirm via Kurdish sources in Syria that Ollie Hall, a UK national who travelled to Syria in August to help in the liberation of the Isis city of Raqqa with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), fell on 25 November from an explosion of ordnance left by Daesh after the liberation of the city.

“Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Ollie at this time.”

Posts on social media appeared to show Mr Hall in Raqqa, wearing camouflage clothing and carrying weaponry, with messages pledging solidarity between the UK and Syria. The posts were accompanie­d by good-luck messages from friends at home.

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