This is the first confirmation from the extremist group that the militant who was targeted by a U.S.-led airstrikes in November is dead.
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“Jihadi John”, who was born Mohammed Emwazi, was killed by an airstrike that hit his auto.
Videos in which he appeared showed the beheadings of Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and others.
The US military had said at the time that it was “reasonably certain” he had been killed in the strike.
He was targeted in a combined British-US operation the previous day in Raqa, de facto capital of ISIS in war-torn Syria.
In a briefing webcast from Baghdad to Pentagon reporters, Colonel Steve Warren said it would take time for formal confirmation that the Hellfire missile drone strike killed the notorious 27-year-old militant.
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Daesh identifies Emwazi as Abu Muharib al-Muhajir, and claims that “Abu Muharib would present himself as unintelligent, as was his method when dealing with intelligence agencies”. Emwazi, whose British accent can be heard in ISIS’s videos, was named after John Lennon, the late lead singer.
