London/Washington: British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday welcomed reports of the killing of “Jihadi John” in a U.S. drone strike and called the attack an “act of self defence”, the media reported.
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He stated the Pentagon was nonetheless in search of remaining verification in that Mr. Emwazi, 27, who became referred to as Jihadi John, was killed within the strike.
The Sotloffs said they would spend the day remembering those killed for public viewing by Emwazi and “everyone else who has suffered at the hands of ISIS”.
According to the Associated Press, the USA military is “reasonably certain” that the man they killed is indeed “Jihadi John”, a 27-year-old executioner whose real name is Mohammed Emwazi.
Emwazi’s death would be a “significant blow” to Islamic State’s prestige because of his high visibility, Warren said, but added he was not a major tactical or operational figure in the group. Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa, who had been held in Syria for more than six months after his abduction in September 2013, said Emwazi would explain precisely how the militants would carry out a beheading.
“Jihadi John”, the jeering, sadistic masked mouthpiece of ISIS, may have been killed in a USA airstrike in Raqqa, Syria.
Emwazi, who speaks English and is believed to be born in Kuwait, was frequently seen in hooded hostage videos carrying out violent beheadings.
Mr Cameron said it had not yet been confirmed that Mohammed Emwazi – who he branded a “barbaric murderer” – was dead.
He took part in the murders of US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, USA aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and a number of other hostages, the Pentagon said.
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.
“As much as I wanted him dead, I also wanted answers as to why he did it, why my Dad, how did it make a difference”, said Bethany Haines, whose father David was shown being killed on video, told Britain’s ITV News.
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Foley’s parents, John and Diane Foley, of New Hampshire, issued a statement saying the news of death of the killer of their son has given them “a very small solace”.
