A senior United States military source said the strike late Thursday involved two MQ9 Reaper drones, the BBC reports. Another man who Warren referred to as Emwazi’s “best friend” was also in the auto.
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“We know for a fact that the weapons system hit its intended target and that the personnel who were on the receiving end of that weapons system were in fact killed”, said Warren.
Activists from anti-Isis group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said a drone targeted the auto Emwazi was travelling in near the Islamic Court, which enforces the group’s interpretation of Sharia law, and a roundabout used to stage executions in the city centre.
Didier François, a French journalist held hostage by ISIL for 10 months, claims that Emwazi was not only a cruel guard, torturer and killer he was key to recruiting foreign jihadists to the ISIL cause.
Officials say there is a “high degree of certainty” that the Kuwaiti-born British ISIS militant Jihadi John has been killed by the drone strike in Raqqa.
“Once again, we see an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians”, he said from the White House.
However, the confirmation would still take a few time, he added.
Following the Pentagon’s announcement, witnesses on the scene told the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, that Emwazi had been blown into pieces. “This was a combined effort, and the contribution of both our countries was essential”.
If his death is confirmed, it would be an key strike in the U.S.-led campaign against the group and would come more than a year after U.S. President Barack Obama promised justice following the deaths of American hostages.
The militant is Mohammed Emwazi and he took part in the beheadings of James Foley and Steve Stoloff tow American journalists, Abdul Rahma Kassig an aid worker from the US, Alan Henning and David Haines aid workers from Britain and Kenji Got a journalist from Japan, amongst others said the Pentagon.
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In a statement later, Foley’s parents, John and Diane Foley, said of the military action, “If only so much effort had been given to rescuing Jim and the other hostages who were subsequently murdered by ISIS, they might be alive today”.
