A young Australian has reportedly been killed in Syria after joining Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State, with a Kurdish group mourning the loss of their “brother” on Facebook.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an Australian was killed in a battle in north-east Syria, but have chosen not to release his name.

• Bishop issues warning on jihadi brides
• ‘American sniper’ Chris Kyle’s killer jailed for life
• Call for review of police bugging laws

There are unconfirmed reports the man, known simply as Ashley on social media, was a 28-year-old mercenary fighting with the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG).

The Observatory said the man was killed when Islamic State fighters attacked a Kurdish position in the province of Hasakah.

On Facebook, the ‘Lions of Rojava’ – a volunteer group which helps recruit young people to the YPG – said they were mourning the loss of ‘Heval Bagok Serhed’.

“We the YPG regretfully inform you of the death of one of our bravest western fighters Heval Bagok Serhed,” the group said in a statement.

“He is the first western fighter to be martyred fighting the evil of ISIS.

“We cannot disclose his identity as of yet for security reasons but in Rojava he went by the name of Heval Bagok Serhed.

The New Daily has not been able to confirm this information.

The Observatory’s director, Rami Abdel Rahman, said dozens of Westerners had joined the Kurdish ranks.

“There are foreigners fighting on all sides of Syria’s war,” he said.

“They are volunteers, they don’t get paid anything at all.

“The YPG [Kurdish People’s Protection Units] isn’t actively recruiting foreigners, but people from countries like Canada, the United States, Britain, Spain, Australia, Holland, Austria and France have travelled to Syria to join their ranks.”

Kurds are fighting IS on multiple fronts, with backing from a US-led coalition that launched strikes on jihadist positions in August, and Syria in September.

Westerners have also travelled to Iraq to join Christian groups battling IS, such as Dwekh Nawsha, whose name in the Assyrian language means self-sacrifice.

The group was formed after IS launched a major assault around the Mosul area of Iraq that displaced hundreds of thousands of Iraqis from their homes

– with ABC