Army Colonel Steve Warren said the Pentagon was “reasonably certain” the drone strike carried out overnight on Thursday in Raqqa, in northern Syria, killed the infamous militant.
Advertisement
The parents of the executed USA reporter James Foley say the apparent death in an air strike of the Islamic State militant Jihadi John is of little solace to them.
Another US official told CNN that Emwazi was in a vehicle at the time of the strike, which was launched from a drone.
Warren said the operation was one in a string of targeted attacks on Islamic State leaders. Describing this as a routine strike, Warren said since March, the US-led worldwide collation has killed on an average one ISIL leader every two day.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron makes a statement about the death of Islamic State militant Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, at Downing Street in London, Friday, November 13, 2015.
Today US Secretary of State John Kerry said officials are still assessing yesterday’s strike.
British and U.S. forces worked together to track down and kill the “barbaric murderer”, according to Mr Cameron.
The former IT student rose to prominence after appearing in a video showing the murder of U.S. journalist James Foley in August past year.
He was targeted in a drone strike in Syria.
Now, the most wanted terrorism target of the Western world, Jihadi John, may be dead.
As the masked face of ISIS, he appeared in a series of brutal execution videos, dressed head-to-toe in black and holding a knife.
“I kind of always believed going to trial kind of upholds beliefs of a fair jury, at the same time he’s a bad guy”, said Cowles.
Obama had also promised justice after the deaths of American hostages, and the United States is seeking to increase pressure on Islamic State fighters, who have seized parts of Syria and Iraq and who Obama has vowed to defeat.
Emwazi was born in Kuwait, but his family moved to London when he was six years old and he grew up in North Kensington, a leafy, middle-class area where a network of Islamist extremists has since been uncovered.
Advertisement
A British citizen believed to be a close associate of Emwazi, Aine Lesley Davis, has been detained in Istanbul, a Turkish official said Friday.
