THE father of a woman who was killed while fighting against ISIS in Syria has called on the British Government to help bring her body home.

Anna Campbell, from Lewes, is believed to have been killed by Turkish airstrikes while fighting with the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units, the YPJ, in Afrin on March 15.

The 26-year-old’s father Dirk Campbell is now calling on the Government to put pressure on the Turkish Government to retrieve her body.

In an open letter to the UK and Icelandic Governments, Mr Campbell and the mother of an Icelandic man who was also killed in the area, wrote: “Not being able to bury the deceased makes the families’ grief even more distressful and the thought of civilians, even children, encountering the decaying bodies of their loved ones is horrifying.

“According to international humanitarian law (e.g. Article 15 of the 1949 Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field) parties to a conflict have the duty to ‘search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled’.

“Apparently, Turkish authorities have not yet fulfilled this obligation.

“Moreover, since international humanitarian organizations have been allowed only limited access to the area, the Red Cross has not been able to search for bodies either.

“The thought of your child’s dead body lying on the ground is bad enough but in addition, the Turkish forces and their allies in Afrin are known to have violated international law regarding appropriate treatment of the dead.”

Mr Campbell and Eva Hauksdóttir, the mother of the Icelandic fighter who was killed, Haukur Hilmarrson, argue that the Turkish Government is breaching Article 15 of the Geneva Convention by not recovering their children’s bodies.

Ms Campbell, who was a qualified plumber, joined the YPJ last May after being inspired to help the group try and form a democratic society for women in Syria.

Ms Campbell is thought to be the first British woman who was killed while fighting Islamist forces in Syria alongside the Kurdish militia.

The Foreign Office said it is in contact with Ms Campbell’s family but it is limited in its ability to assist them due to the Government not having any consular presence in Syria.