Thai Boxing champion who joined Isil is killed trying to defect
A world-famous kickboxing fighter who joined and then tried to defect from Isil has been killed in Syria, sources reported.
Valdet Gashi, an Albanian-born German Muay Thai fighter, had travelled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in March.
He died while “attempting to escape with another group from [Isil]-held areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition watchdog with a network of activists in Syria.
He was then caught and “dragged to an [Isil] jail in the city of Manbej northeast of Aleppo.”
The Thai boxing champion with some of his belts
Gashi’s brother confirmed his brother’s death on Facebook, according to Swiss TV channel Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF).
During his time serving in the self-proclaimed caliphate Gashi, 29, had taken on the role of a policeman or customs agent, patrolling areas of the Turkish border and thwarting cigarette smugglers from entering Isil territory.
Gashi, a two-time Thai Boxing champion, had competed all over South East Asia was “one of the better foreign Muay Thai fighters in Thailand”, according to boxing blog Fightland.
A father of two, he told his family he was leaving to start a Muay Thai camp in Switzerland.
He soon appeared on social media brandishing a gun, saying he wasn’t engaged in fighting but was helping to “clear up misunderstandings.”
Gashi also took a number of his proteges with him to Syria.
In an interview with SRF published earlier this year, Gashi seemed unfazed about the prospect of death.
“If I die while doing good, I of course will be glad,” Gashi had said.
The Observatory added that some sources asserted Gashi was still alive, and had even attempted another escape.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11758525/Thai-Boxing-champion-who-joined-Isil-is-killed-trying-to-defect.html