Kurdish women who are part of the Peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq take special pride in their role on the front lines, saying they are helping free women in their own society in addition to fighting Islamic terrorists.
"Alone, I killed maybe nine that I saw. When I killed one I felt proud and happy, and I told everybody," a
17-year-old told CNN in an interview in her father's home. The teen is recovering from a wound to her abdomen suffered earlier this year when the Islamic State attacked her checkpoint.
"We have to follow our leaders," she told CNN. "If it were up to us, we would go among ISIS and blow ourselves up. We would do anything to kill these people."
Another Kurdish woman did just that Sunday. Arin Mirkan, said to be a commander in the Kurdish People's Protection Unit, detonated a grenade, killing herself and dozens of the Islamic State fighters closing in on her.
She is believed to be the first female Kurdish soldier to commit suicide as part of battle. Photos posted online purport to show ISIS fighters holding the heads of female fighters they have killed.
There are believed to be 7,000 to 10,000 women fighting with Kurdish forces inside Syria,
according to International Business Times.
Those women see themselves as inspirations to their fellow Kurdish women.
"Being a woman in the family is like being in jail," the 17-year-old told CNN. "When a woman fighter walks in town, the women say, 'Look, she's free. She can do what she wants.' Kurdish women become fighters because they want to free them."
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