US Military Reasonably Certainly Drone Strike Killed Jihadi John | World Defense

US Military Reasonably Certainly Drone Strike Killed Jihadi John

Redheart

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military reasonably certain drone strike killed Jihadi John



The US military is "reasonably certain" a US drone strike killed the Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," a British citizen who appeared in several videos beheading Western journalists and aid workers, a spokesman said on Friday.

Army Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, told a Pentagon briefing that Mohammed Emwazi, a.k.a. "Jihadi John", was thought to have been killed in the Syrian town of Raqqa by a US drone firing a Hellfire missile, but that the military still needed final verification.

A US official told The Associated Press that a drone had targeted a vehicle in which Emwazi was believed to be travelling. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Two senior Turkish officials also reported that a suspected British associate of "Jihadi John" is now detained in Turkey. The man is thought to be Aine Lesley Davis, one of a group of British Islamists believed to have been assigned to guard foreign prisoners in Syria.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the strike had been a joint effort and that British intelligence agencies were working around the clock to find the British-accented militant, whom Cameron called the militant group’s "lead executioner."

Cameron also said the US strike had been "an act of self-defense" and the right thing to do. He said targeting Emwazi was "a strike at the heart" of the Islamic State group.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, appearing at a news conference in the Tunisian capital on Friday told reporters that extremists "need to know this: your days are numbered and you will be defeated."

Emwazi, believed to be in his mid-20s, has been described by a former hostage as a bloodthirsty psychopath who enjoyed threatening Western hostages. 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 carried out beheadings.

Those being held by three British-sounding captors nicknamed them "the Beatles" with "Jihadi John" a reference to Beatles member John Lennon, Espinosa said in recalling his months as one of more than 20 hostages.

Among those beheaded by Islamic State militants in videos posted online since August 2014 were US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

A friend of taxi driver-turned-humanitarian Henning has said she is still "skeptical" following news that "Jihadi John" may have been killed.

Louise Woodward-Styles, who organized a candlelit vigil for Henning after he was captured by the terrorists, said that even if "Jihadi John's" death were confirmed, the family of her 47-year-old friend would not get closure following his brutal murder.

She added that she would have preferred if Emwazi had been brought back to the UK to face justice.
 

Corzhens

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Jihadi John deserves to be killed. Sorry for that statement but the guy was overzealous in his newfound religion to be the executioner of people. It is ironic that a jihad is a religious action in defense of religion. So what are they defending about when they are the aggressor in Syria? That drone should be given medal of valor for snuffing the life of a murderer and discourage others from following his footsteps.
 
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