A female Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighter writes notes as she sits in a security position near a base in Sinjar, March 13, 2015. Women fighters at a PKK base on Mount Sinjar in northwest Iraq, just like their male counterparts, have to be ready for action at any time. Smoke from the front line, marking their battle against Islamic State, which launched an assault on northern Iraq last summer, is visible from the base. Many of the women have cut links with their families back home; the fighters come from all corners of the Kurdish region. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

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