Funeral services for a Niagara man who died in Syria fighting ISIS

The body of a man killed while fighting ISIS militants overseas has finally been put to rest in his hometown of Niagara Falls.

Nazzareno Tassone’s body was escorted by the North Wall riders, a group of motorcycle riders, as well as police and members of the Kurdish community from Toronto.

The 24 year old was killed in December along with 4 others in Iraq, but his body wasn’t brought back to Canada until this month. He was buried today, 6 months to the day that he died in Iraq.

Tassone left Canada last year after telling his family he was going to teach English in Iraq. Instead he joined a U.S. backed Kurdish group and died months later while fighting ISIS.

According to Kurdish forces his body was being held by ISIS and wasn’t recovered until last month. Details of how the body was released has not been disclosed. The family was told by Kurdish sources Tassone was killed by a gun shot but autospy results overseas say the cause of death was a blow to the head.

The family says it still has questions as to what happened in Iraq, but are glad they got to bury him here at home.

Tassone is the second Canadian to be killed while fighting alongside the Kurds. He joins 32-year-old John Gallagher who was killed nearly two years ago.