“Jihadi John”, whom Western officials have identified as Mohammed Emwazi, has appeared in a series of brutal execution videos, taunting Western leaders in a British accent.
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10 Downing Street and UK Ministry of Defence sources were marginally less certain in their response to the reports of his death than U.S. sources, but added there was a “high degree of certainty” that he has been killed.
Calling Emwazi “ISIL’s lead executioner”, Cameron said he had “killed many, many Muslims in addition to the Western journalists and aid workers he’d slaughtered by slicing their heads off in killings captured in gruesome videos and broadcast worldwide by the Islamic State”.
“We are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide additional information as and where appropriate”, said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook.
“The intelligence indicators that we had gave us great confidence that this individual was Jihadi John and when the opportunity presented itself – with the opportunity for minimal civilian casualties – we took the shot”, Army Col. Steve Warren, USA military spokesman in Baghdad, is quoted as saying by the AP. Emwazi subsequently appeared in grisly videos showing the killing of foreign hostages, speaking to the camera in taunting tones, with a balaclava over his face, a knife in his hand, and a holster under his left arm.
Emwazi is a barbaric murderer. The USA attacked a vehicle that was believed to be carrying the British terrorist Thursday.
His parents moved to Britain in 1993 after their hopes of obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship were quashed.
Sky’s Senior Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said: “David Cameron wanted to put Britain at the centre of the USA action against Emwazi – or as near to it as possible”. “Jihadi John was an ISIL celebrity”. The identity and nationality of the boy’s mother is not known, but Home Office rules make it clear that he is already regarded as British, stating, “British citizenship may descend to one generation born overseas”.
“Emwazi’s death – if confirmed – may not be significant strategically in the fight against IS, who has many more militants”.
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Nothing will bring back David and Alan.
