Special to WorldTribune.com

American Keith Broomfield was killed last week while fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).

A Kurdish militant group reported Broomfield’s death on June 10, and it was confirmed by the U.S. State Department.

Broomfield, a 36-year-old from Massachusetts, is believed to be the first American to die while fighting for the Kurds.

Broomfield is said to have joined up in February with the YPG, the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party. An official with Kurdish forces said Broomfield was killed in a battle with ISIL on June 3 in Qentere, Syria (near Kobani).

Kurds took to Twitter to hail Broomfield as an “American Hero” who was “martyred.”

Broomfield’s mother, Donna said her son “turned his life over to the Lord, decided this was God’s will” that he should go fight ISIL. “I didn’t want him to go, but I didn’t have a choice in the matter,” she told NBC News.

Broomfield is said to be one of several Americans to volunteer to fight for the YPG. While he is said to be the first American to die fighting for the Kurds, three other Westerners have been killed including men from Britain and Australia and a woman from Germany.

  Keith Broomfield, Kurds hail ‘American Hero’ killed in battle with ISIL, Qentere, WorldTribune.com, YPG