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AFP
Beirut
Two Americans and a Briton have died fighting alongside Syrian Kurdish forces as they battle to oust the Islamic State group from its Raqqa stronghold, the forces said Tuesday.
The three men volunteering with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) appear to be the first foreign volunteers to have died since fighting began inside the northern Syrian city. In a statement on its website, the YPG said Americans Robert Grodt and Nicholas Warden and Briton Luke Rutter were among six"martyrs"on the Raqqa front, without saying where exactly they died. In tweets on Tuesday, the YPG said Rutter and Warden were"martyred in action"on July 5 and Grodt died the following day. The YPG is the key component of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
