Kurdish militia says it will hand body of American killed in Syria to family

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - The body of an American man who was killed in Syria fighting alongside Kurds against Islamic State will be handed over to his family in Turkey, Kurdish militia said in a statement on Thursday. The U.S. State Department on Wednesday confirmed the man's death and identified him as Keith Broomfield. He was killed in clashes with Islamic State near the Syrian border town of Kobani, the People's Protection Union (YPG) Kurdish militia said on its web site, where it published the picture of man it said was Broomfield. YPG said Broomfield joined its ranks in February. It did not say when exactly the body will be handed over to family. Broomfield's family has left the United States to receive his body at the Turkish border gate of Mursitpinar, the YPG statement said, adding that the U.S. consulate in the southern Turkish province of Adana has also been informed. Kurdish forces drove out Islamic State militants from Kobani in January after months of clashes and recently launched an offensive against the hardline Sunni group in northeastern Syria. (Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan, Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Dominic Evans)