Tekoshin stands on a mountain in **rth Iraq with a rifle slung over her shoulder and a grenade tucked into her belt, facing jihadists in "a struggle to liberate women". Women have been fighting alongside men in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to wrest Mount Makhmur in **rthern Iraq back from Islamic State (IS) jihadists, whose treatment of women makes the fight especially personal for the dozens of female fighters on the mountain. IS-led militants have overrun large areas of Iraq, and the group also controls significant territory in neighbouring Syria, enacting its harshly restrictive and brutal interpretation of Islamic law in both countries. "Our struggle against (the IS) is to defend women from them and from that kind of thinking." - Women, men deploy together - Some 50 women are among the fighters on the mountain from the PKK, which launched an insurgency for self-rule in Turkey in 1984 and has been listed as a terrorist group by countries including the United States, but began peace talks in 2012.
09-13-2014, 10:30 PM
Kurdish female fighters face jihadists in Iraq's **rth
العرض الشجري