American Killed While Fighting alongside ISIL Terrorists in Syria

WASHINGTON-A 33-year-old American was killed over the weekend in Syria while battling alongside the terrorists of the so-called “Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), NBC News reported on Tuesday.

According to the network, Douglas McAuthur McCain was killed over the weekend while fighting with the ISIL against other armed groups in Syria. Family members confirmed his death to NBC, and senior administration officials speaking anonymously acknowledged that they were aware of the man’s death.

Last week a spokesperson for the agency said that thousands of terrorists from outside of Syria have since traveled to the country to take up arms in its three-year-old war.

“We think that there are approximately 12,000 fighters from at least 50 countries in Syria — foreign fighters, including a small number of  Americans — that may have traveled to Syria since the beginning of the conflict” deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Thursday.

Americans killed fighting in Syria

Hundreds of foreign terrorists have gone to Syria in recent years. Two of them, Nicole Lynn Mansfield and Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, 22 have died in the conflict, according to RT.

Mansfield, 33, was a Muslim convert. She died in May 2013, apparently while trying to attack Syrian government forces.

Salha, who is originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, died in an explosion on 25 May during an attack on the Syrian army.

He had joined an armed group, Nusra Front, and became the first American suicide bomber in the Syria conflict.

Western officials have warned of foreign fighters returning to the US and Europe after receiving training in Syria.

H. Mustafa