Meet the female politics student who ran away to fight ISIS and says militants are 'easy to kill'

Joanna Palani gave up her life as a college student to fight ISIS

A young woman who travelled to Syria to fight jihadis on the frontline has revealed how ISIS thugs are 'very easy to kill' and children are rounded up to be sexually abused.

Joanna Palani, then 22, gave up her life as a college student to become a Kurdish fighter in the war-torn country, where she came face-to-face with murderous militants.

With the knowledge of how to shoot a gun, she spent a year battling ISIS on the frontline, teaching other girls how to fight and witnessing the brutal horrors of war.

Now back home, Joanna has told of her experiences from her time abroad - and the striking differences between the Islamic State and President Assad's 'killing machines'

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joanna palani

Joanna came face-to-face with murderous militants in Syria and Iraq

"ISIS fighters are very easy to kill," she told Vice, laughing. "ISIS fighters are very good at sacrificing their own lives, but Assad's soldiers are very well-trained and they are specialist killing machines."

Joanna, from Copenhagen, Denmark, left college in November 2014 to 'fight for human rights for all people'.

She firstly travelled to Iraq, before moving on to Rojova in Syria.

There, she fought with the People's Protection Unit (the YPG) for six months, before joining the Peshmerga for a further six months.

On her first night on the front line, the young woman witnessed an unimaginable sight - her comrade being shot dead by a sniper who had noticed his cigarette smoke.

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She was forced to helplessly watch the Swedish fighter die, his blood drenching her new uniform.

In subsequent months, Joanna reportedly discovered she had a talent for shooting and keeping quiet at the right time, especially when faced with Assad's well-armed forces.

Having learned to fire a gun aged just nine, she also started training young Kurdish fighters, many of whom stunned her with their bravery in the face of possible death.

As she did, she received horrific letters from girls in captivity, describing how they had been brutally raped by fighters and were desperate to escape.

"Even though I am a fighter it is difficult for me to read about how a ten-year-old girl is going to die because she is bleeding from a rape," she told Vice.

At the beginning of 2015, Joanna was shocked to discover a 'holding house' in a village near Mosul, Iraq, where young girls were sexually abused and loaned out to fighters.

She told of how one victim, aged just 11, was pregnant with twins - something that later killed her.

Joanna, now 23, later returned to her homeland while on leave.

However, she said she was only back for three days when she received an email from Danish police.

She said she was informed that her passport was no longer valid and that if she returned to Syria or Iraq, she could be imprisoned for up to six years under new laws.

These laws are intended to stop ISIS fanatics from joining the terror group in conflict zones.

Joanna is now back studying politics and philosophy in Copenhagen - but can't help feeling like she has let down the trainee fighters and child abuse victims she left behind.