A 22-YEAR-OLD British man who grew up in Warminster has been killed while fighting Islamic State militants in Syria.

Dean Carl Evans had voluntarily joined the People’s Defence Units (YPG) – the Kurdish military force fighting IS – and had been on the frontline in the city of Manbij, a strategic location in the north-west of the country.

Mark Campbell, a London-based pro-Kurdish activist, said: “Dean was on the frontline and had been shot by an ISIS bullet and fallen behind a wall.

“A Kurdish woman fighter from the YPG had gone to his aid and then both of them were hit by an ISIS RPG and tragically they both died.”

Mr Evans’ father, John Evans, who now lives in Oxford, posted on Facebook to say his son “was loved and will be missed by all his family and friends”.

In a second post he said: “I would like to say a massive big thank you to all my friends and family who sent their condolence for the loss of my son.

“He would have been very proud and would have regarded you all as his brothers and sisters, thank you again.”

Mr Evans lived in Reading but attended Kingdown School in Warminster as a teenager. He was a member of the Army Cadets and served with the Warminster detachment, who have their base on Station Road, for several years, leaving around 2010.

He had previously travelled to Syria in 2015 and in March to fight IS.

He is the second Briton to die fighting with the Kurds against IS. Erik ‘Kosta’ Scurfield was killed on March 2, 2015, during fighting to take back the strategic Til Hamis town.