MoD investigating reports of UK soldier leaving base to join Kurdish peshmerga fighting Isis

The British minister of defence (MoD) is looking into reports that have surfaced online that a UK soldier has left his base to join Kurdish peshmerga fighters in their battle against the Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq and Syria.

"We are aware of these reports and are looking into them," a MoD spokeswoman told IBTimes UK.

British media, including Sky news and the Telegraph, reported that an unnamed 19-year-old soldier in the British Army went AWOL (absence without leave) and travelled to the Middle East, where he is planning to spend a year with Kurdish forces because "these guys need our help".

He has reportedly been in the Army since leaving school at 16 and is known to have been learning Arabic.

However, the MoD denied that the man had gone AWOL.

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