A British fighter’s final Instagram post has shown him exploring a liberated ISIS prison just hours before he was killed clearing landmines in Raqqa.
Jac Holmes, who left his home in Parkstone, Dorset in 2015 to fight extremists, was killed a week after the terror group’s Syrian stronghold was freed.
Photos and video posted online a short time before his death show the 24-year-old and his colleagues walking into a sports stadium that ISIS used as an execution and torture headquarters.
Fanatics had been hiding in the arena during a bloody last stand as they fought US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
British fighter Jac Holmes’s final Instagram post has shown him exploring a liberated ISIS prison just hours before he was killed clearing landmines in Raqqa. He is pictured (left) entering a stadium ISIS used as an execution and torture headquarters
Jac Holmes, who left his home inParkstone, Dorset in 2015 to fight extremists, was killed a week after the terror group’s Syrian stronghold was freed
Photos and video posted online a short time before his death show the 24-year-old (left) and his colleagues walking into a sports stadium that ISIS used as an execution and torture headquarters
His photos showed evidence of tunnels built by ISIS under the arena where they had built cells and torture chambers
The sports centre became known as a the Black Stadium and had an underground network of tunnels which included prison cells and torture chambers
A video of Mr Holmes walking in to the stadium was posted on his Instagram account along with the words: ‘Walking into the stadium in Raqqa for the first time since the battle ended. We spent weeks seeing this place from hundreds of metres away, it was strange walking the streets and finally going inside.’
Hours later he was dead.
The sports centre became known as a the Black Stadium and had an underground network of tunnels which included prison cells and torture chambers.
The jihadists’ prisoners were subjected to horrific punishments while others were beheaded in the arena.
After walking around the stadium, Mr Holmes, a former IT worker, wrote on Instagram: ‘Pics from the stadium and underneath it.
‘All in one place there was 3 tunnels, a lot of jail cells, a shooting range and a gym. A lot of languages scribbled on the walls. Arabic, Kurdish, Russian, Turkish and English.’
Video and pictures of him walking in to the stadium was posted on his Instagram account
Aftermath: Footage posted on his Instagram account shows the ruins of Raqqa stadium after it had been liberated
Chilling photos show the empty stadium after fanatics had been driven out. The arena had been used as a torture chamber during ISIS’s reign of terror in the city
The 24-year-old was one of a number of British volunteers who travelled out to fight against ISIS with the Kurds during the Syrian conflict
The sniper had been battling against ISIS alongside the Kurdistan People’s Protection Units (YPG) since January 2015 – despite having previously had no military training.
His mother, Angie Blannin, said the 24-year-old was killed clearing mines in the newly-liberated city of Raqqa on Monday.
Angie said: ‘He stood up for what he believed in and he had the courage of his convictions to go out and do something where he thought that the West were not doing enough.
‘To defeat ISIS he felt that it was not just a Syrian problem, or Middle Eastern problem, it was a world problem.
‘He wanted to go and do something about that and not just be a keyboard warrior.’
She added: ‘He is a hero in my eyes and always will be.’
‘He was just a boy when he left the UK, a little bit lost. He told me he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. But by going out there, he found something that he was good at and that he loved.
‘I was on the phone to Jac only on Sunday and we talked about how he planned to come home for Christmas now Raqqa is liberated. Fighting ISIS in Syria was his calling.’
Brave: Mr Holmes quit his job and left Britain shortly before his 22nd birthday in 2015
Informed of his death hours after it happened, she said that according to Kurdish officials, her only child had been clearing mines to help civilians within the city.
‘That wasn’t his job, his role, he was a sniper,’ she said.
‘But that is what he was doing, it is all a bit sketchy but I am guessing he stepped on a landmine or one went off close to him, or it was a suicide vest.
‘But I don’t know. It was an IED that probably covers every base.’
Mr Holmes quit his job working on the service desk for an outsourcing firm which provided services to Bournemouth Council in January 2015.
In a previous interview with MailOnline he discussed his reasons for joining the fight against ISIS.
He said: ‘I was learning about the whole Syrian civil war and seeing the grim situation as it developed over the past six months before I came here.
‘Every day there was a new atrocity, whether it be perpetrated by Assad or the likes of Daesh (Isis).
‘I got sick of seeing what was going on while the British government and the rest of the West did nothing and most people knew nothing of the situation in the region, so I took it upon myself to come out here and do whatever I could to assist the people in their struggle.’
He added: ‘In the YPG everyone who takes part in this fight believes what they are doing is right.’
A former IT worker, Mr Holmes had no military training and family and friends tried to stop him leaving back in 2015
Sniper Jac Holmes, from Bournemouth, had been fighting with the Kurdistan People’s Protection Units (YPG) since January 2015
As a former IT worker, Mr Holmes had no previous military experience, but he became one of the longest-serving foreign volunteers in the conflict. He was also known by his Kurdish nom de guerre Sores Amanos – ‘sores’ meaning ‘revolution’.
Since 2015, he had travelled to fight with the Kurds three times, and spent more than a year there on his third trip, where he was involved in some of the heaviest fighting of the conflict against ISIS.
Mr Holmes fought in operations to push the murderous group out of key towns and villages including Tel Hamis, Manbij, Tabqa and Raqqa.
He was wounded during a gun battle a year ago.
In a video he published on Facebook last month Mr Holmes revealed the horror of an ‘undercover’ ISIS attack on YPG troops.
Jac Holmes, who had been fighting with Kurdish militia the YPG since 2015, died while clearing an area to make it safe for civilians
He revealed how terrorists wearing Kurdish militia uniforms staged a bungled suicide bomb attack in Raqqa.
On Sunday, Mr Holmes posted another himself on Facebook walking into Raqqa’s central sports stadium for the first time since the long-running battle for the ISIS stronghold city ended.
Alan Sahin, a friend of Mr Holmes, told the BBC: ‘We could see how much he grew up while he was out there. He found his purpose there. He turned from a young lad into a man.
Mark Campbell, a pro-Kurdish activist, described Mr Holmes as a ‘man who defeated ISIS for us all’ in a Facebook post today
‘It’s gut-wrenching, as Raqqa had just finished…Jac would have gone on to do good things.’
A former soldier, who fought alongside Mr Holmes in Kirkuk, told MailOnline: ‘He came over to us in Peshmerga for a short while in Kirkuk, but he made western Kurdistan his home.
‘He was with us for about three months from June 2015 and conducted quite a fair few operations where we took villagers from ISIS.
‘Jac was a really great bubbly guy. He wasn’t ex-military, but you knew that if he had joined the forces he would have fit right in. He was always destined to be a soldier. He was that type of lad.
‘Whenever there were guys that were ex-forces that were giving him advice, he took it on board. He was a natural.
‘I only recently spoke to him over Facebook, and each time I used to say ‘Jac when are you coming back, mate? You’ve been there nearly three years’. But he said ‘maybe one day when this over’.
‘His heart was well and truly committed to it, his focus was Raqqa. He refused to do anything else until that area was reclaimed.
‘He found home over there with the Kurds, where he hadn’t in the UK. He loved the people and what they stood for.
‘He has earned his place where our finest go.’
Mark Campbell, a close friend and member of the Kurdish Solidarity Campaign, wrote on Facebook: ‘He went a boy and died a man who defeated ISIS for us all! A true hero! Love and the deepest condolences to Jac’s mother Angie and her partner Paul and Jac’s father Peter and to all Jac’s family, friends and comrades. I’m in total shock. Jac’s only wish was to defeat Daesh in Raqqa.
‘His incredible sacrifice meant the rest of us can sleep a little safer. You got to the end Jack and that is what you wanted. Now you can rest dear friend.’
In a Facebook post the International Peshmerga Volunteers wrote: ‘It is with the deepest of hearts that we must announce the passing of şoreş (Jac Holmes) a British volunteer who was fighting alongside the YPG since the beginning of this conflict.
‘We met Jac last year in Erbil upon his release from prison prior to returning back to the UK. Jac was fearless in the face of the enemy but still held onto that compassion and reasoning as to why he traveled to Rojava to take part in the fight.
Jac was present at most of the liberation’s which took place across Syria and I can say with the upmost certainty that many of the Kurdish people know, love and will respect this man for eternity. Heaven has gained a bright start while the world has lost a great man, great friend and great warrior.’
The Home Office has warned against all travel to Syria.