‘Come home’, family tells Chinese man fighting Islamic State, as he voices regret for sharing his story with media
A young Chinese man who is fighting Islamic State in Syria in a local militia group says he regrets the publicity generated about his story in the media because he fears it will lead to retribution against other people from China in the region.
The 25-year-old from Sichuan province, who has only revealed his surname Pan and his Kurdish name Ba Si, arrived in Syria in October and joined the Kurdish militia the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, BBC Chinese reported last week.
The militia is fighting Islamic state in Kurdish areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
READ MORE: ‘Living with fear’: Syrian refugees recall life under Islamic State
Pan told the BBC he was the first person from China to join the militia and had fought on the frontline in Kobane in Syria twice since his arrival.
The report was picked up by international and Chinese media.
But the fighter regrets speaking to the media, according to a statement he posted on his Weibo social media account Wednesday evening.
“I think I have done a very stupid thing. [I] shouldn’t have let BBC report on it. My life or death does not matter, but ISIS is also reading the BBC and there are many countrymen doing business in Iraq and other areas in the Middle East.
