'This is revenge for the Yazidi girls': How three brave female fighters killed 10 ISIS jihadis a day on the frontline in Iraq

  • All-female fighting unit is stemming the tide of ISIS' ethnic cleansing of Yazidis in Mount Sinjar, northern Iraq
  • Women left behind lives in Turkey and smuggle themselves into Kurdistan to take revenge for Yazidi murders
  • At the peak of the fighting, the AK47-wielding women were shooting dead up to 10 ISIS insurgents a day
  • They said they have found drugs on jihadis they have captured and killed, taken to pluck up courage on the battlefield 
  • They said Islamic extremists are frightened of being killed by a woman and denied 'Jannah' or paradise after death

Three courageous women have told how they formed an armed all-female fighting unit and killed up to 10 ISIS jihadis a day to stop the Yazidi genocide on embattled Mount Sinjar.

The women took the extraordinary decision to leave behind their lives in Turkey and travel to Kurdistan, northern Iraq, to end the bloodshed of Yazidis being slaughtered there.

'When we heard ISIS were coming to Sinjar and killing women, we came to stop the humanitarian crisis,' Roza, 22, the youngest of the group, told MailOnline.

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Brave: Pictured left to right: Raparin, Roza and Deijly make up an all female fighting unit who left left their lives in Turkey to help stem the tide of ethnic cleansing by ISIS against Yazidi people in Mount Sinjar, northern Iraq

Brave: Pictured left to right: Raparin, Roza and Deijly make up an all female fighting unit who left left their lives in Turkey to help stem the tide of ethnic cleansing by ISIS against Yazidi people in Mount Sinjar, northern Iraq

Force for good: The women, who belong to the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, say they have been killing up to ten ISIS jihadis a day in bloody battles on the frontline around Mount Sinjar

Force for good: The women, who belong to the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, say they have been killing up to ten ISIS jihadis a day in bloody battles on the frontline around Mount Sinjar

Fears: The female fighters told MailOnline that ISIS soldiers are scared of being killed by women because they they believe then they will not receive 'Jannah', paradise or heavenly rewards in the afterlife

Fears: The female fighters told MailOnline that ISIS soldiers are scared of being killed by women because they they believe then they will not receive 'Jannah', paradise or heavenly rewards in the afterlife

Dressed in her camouflage vest that holds her AK-47 magazines and up to six grenades, she described what had happened to Christian Yazidis there as 'a crime against humanity'.

'When ISIS came, we saw them take Yazidi females and enslave them,' Roza said.

The ethnic cleansing of Yazidis on Mount Sinjar started in August last year when ISIS raided villages and plundered communities.

They went into villages armed with guns and took men, women and children from their homes. Terrified, they were forced to stand in two separate lines, men on one side and women and children on the other.

The men were forced to renounce Christianity and pledge their allegiance to Islam.

Should they refuse, they were bundled into trucks and taken to killing fields on the edges of villages, forced to dig their own graves before being made to kneel and shot in the back of the head. 

The women and underage girls were often taken to cities such as Mosul and Raqqa and turned into sex slaves.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Roza explained: 'They did this first of all to get rid of the Yazidis and convert them and second, to do bad things to their females.'

The genocide of Yazidis led US President Barack Obama to order air strikes against ISIS on August 7. But the women said that by then it was already too late.

Sat next to Roza is her experienced guerrilla 'commander', Deijly.

Deijly explained that they had heard from other fighters operating in the caves in Sinjar that ISIS massacred Yazidis four days before the US airstrikes, on August 3. 

Determined: Roza, at 22, is the youngest of the women fighting. She told MailOnline: 'When we heard ISIS were coming to Sinjar and killing women, we came to stop the humanitarian crisis'

Determined: Roza, at 22, is the youngest of the women fighting. She told MailOnline: 'When we heard ISIS were coming to Sinjar and killing women, we came to stop the humanitarian crisis'

Humanitarian: The women said that when they heard of the mass killings taking place in Mount Sinjar in August last year they smuggled themselves from Turkey into the region to help

Humanitarian: The women said that when they heard of the mass killings taking place in Mount Sinjar in August last year they smuggled themselves from Turkey into the region to help

Unshakeable: Tapping the butt of her rifle, Raparin (pictured left) with Roza (right), said: 'I don't believe they will be able to capture me. If they capture me I would rather kill myself'

Unshakeable: Tapping the butt of her rifle, Raparin (pictured left) with Roza (right), said: 'I don't believe they will be able to capture me. If they capture me I would rather kill myself'

Fighting on: The town of Bara on the western mountain slope in Sinjar has been under ISIS control since last August when towns and communities in the region were plundered by jihadists 

Fighting on: The town of Bara on the western mountain slope in Sinjar has been under ISIS control since last August when towns and communities in the region were plundered by jihadists 

'We smuggled ourselves there from Turkey on August 5,' Deijly, 29, said pointing in the direction they came from.

She said that the Yazidis were left defenceless after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its troops, the Peshmerga, withdrew.

'We heard that the Peshmerga had withdrawn and we heard the children were dying on the mountain.' 

We were sometimes killing ten of them a day, in the beginning of the liberation of Sinjar 
 Raparin, 24, PKK fighter

As the Sinjar tragedy unfolded, an estimated 40,000 refugees were stranded on the mountain with little water or supplies.

'It was a difficult journey from Turkey. When we came the temperatures were scorching, but we were trained for that,' said Deijly, who is originally from Istanbul.

The final member of their unit, Raparin, 26, who also 'smuggled' herself in from Turkey, told what happened when the women arrived on the battlefield.

'We were sometimes killing ten of them a day, in the beginning of the liberation of Sinjar,' she said from her vantage point overlooking the ISIS-controlled town of Bara on the western mountain slope in Sinjar.

Helped by American-led air strikes and joined by more Kurdish forces, they manage to secure a corridor to allow many of the stranded Yazidis to cross into Syrian territory.

'We are 'one' with the Yazidis and will fight ISIS to take revenge for the what has happened to the women,' Deijly said. 

The women are all members of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party, an organization that has been fighting the Turkish government for decades and is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, NATO and Turkey. It's for that reason that they will reveal few details of their lives back home.

'Recep Tayyip Erdoğan [Turkey President] has never wanted to make an agreement with us, and other countries support him, and think the PKK are terrorists,' said Raparin of her home country.

Turkey has recently begun a bombing campaign against the PKK and ISIS in Iraq and Syria. 

Defiant: Deijly, 29, is the group's commander as the most experienced fighter in the all-female unit. She they will stay and fight until their last breath until the war against Islamic extremism is won

Defiant: Deijly, 29, is the group's commander as the most experienced fighter in the all-female unit. She they will stay and fight until their last breath until the war against Islamic extremism is won

Distraught: The female fighters from PKK want to avenge the thousands of women and girls from the Yazidi community (pictured after being freed by ISIS militants in April) have been captured and enslaved by ISIS

Distraught: The female fighters from PKK want to avenge the thousands of women and girls from the Yazidi community (pictured after being freed by ISIS militants in April) have been captured and enslaved by ISIS

Madness: Their lives all changed dramatically when they were forced to flee Sinjar in August last year (pictured). It was pictures like these that prompted the brave women fighters to come and help

Madness: Their lives all changed dramatically when they were forced to flee Sinjar in August last year (pictured). It was pictures like these that prompted the brave women fighters to come and help

The PKK are also helping to create and train Sinjar Protection Units that are made up of both male and female volunteer Yazidi fighters.

'There is no difference between the female and male fighters. The training is the same,' they explained.

The situation on Sinjar is still tense, but has 'calmed down' since the last ISIS attack with RPGS a fortnight ago, according to the women.

They admit to seeing 'many of their friends die' during numerous bloody battles - but insist they will fight until their last breath to stop Islamic extremism.

'The beheadings are the worst thing in the world. Fighting is two forces against each other, but they are not doing this. I don't think this is in any religion,' Roza stated.

Sometimes when we kill or capture them we see that they are drugged, or having been doping 
Deijly, 29, commander

However, they believe that Islamic State's propaganda is more powerful than their military capability.

'Everyone is worried about ISIS. But they are not that strong and they cannot continue to fight against the PKK,' Raparin continued.

The unit of three also claim that jihadists need to take drugs to pluck up the courage to fight them.

'Sometimes when we kill or capture them we see that they are drugged, or having been doping,' Deijly said.

ISIS has been particularly brutal with captured Kurdish fighters, raping the women and beheading the men if they surrender.

But, tapping the butt of her rifle, Raparin said: 'I don't believe they will be able to capture me. If they capture me I would rather kill myself.'

Shrugging her shoulders, Deijly added: 'It is the same for all of us.'

'It happened to some of my friends who were surrounded, they killed themselves before Daesh [the name given to ISIS] could capture them. I have lost many friends,' she added.

It is claimed that ISIS militants are scared of being killed by women, as they believe will not receive 'Jannah', paradise or heavenly rewards in the after death.

'When they know women are fighting, they run away,' Roza said with an ironic smile.

Her commander added: 'I have killed many, but I am sure all of them will not find virgins in heaven.'

The PKK, as well as being at the forefront of the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, also promotes gender equality in the Middle East.

Unrecognisable: Sinjar is littered with ghost towns that have been destroyed by the vicious onslaught of ISIS and heavy aerial bombing

Unrecognisable: Sinjar is littered with ghost towns that have been destroyed by the vicious onslaught of ISIS and heavy aerial bombing

Defaced: A number of recently liberated buildings near the town of Bara, where Yazidis once lived happily, have been defaced by ISIS graffiti and propaganda  

Defaced: A number of recently liberated buildings near the town of Bara, where Yazidis once lived happily, have been defaced by ISIS graffiti and propaganda  

Rubble: Most Yazidis have nothing to return to since the fighting and US-led airstrikes caused so much damage to homes and buildings in the besieged region

Rubble: Most Yazidis have nothing to return to since the fighting and US-led airstrikes caused so much damage to homes and buildings in the besieged region

'It is not just about women fighting, but also women in decision making and policy making,' the commander said.

The group claims its goals are to 'provide democracy and freedom for women', starting with the Kurdish people.

'We have to first provide this in Kurdistan, and then the rest of the world can learn. But in Kurdistan it is the only place where women's voices are rising,' Deijly said. 

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