Pentagon ‘Reasonably Certain’ its Strike Kills IS Militant ‘Jihadi John’

“We are reasonably certain that we killed the target that we meant to kill, which is ‘Jihadi John, ‘” Colonel Steve Warren said from Baghdad in a briefing that was webcast live to reporters at the Pentagon.

Senior official admits final confirmation will take a few time, but maintains confidence that Mohammed Emwazi was killed.

Authorities were still investigating to confirm his identity “one hundred per cent”, the official said.

Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s, grew up in a trim housing estate in West London and graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in computer programming.

Emwazi, considered the most prominent British member of the militant group, was shown in videos in 2014 and 2015 killing several USA and other Western hostages.

“(Emwazi) was shown in those sickening videos of the beheadings of British aid workers”, Mr Cameron said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said while on a visit to Tunis on November 13 that the IS’s “days are numbered”.

Charlie Winter, an academic who focuses on IS activities, said it could be a “big blow”. It remained unclear, however, whether the London-raised militant Mohammed Emwazi was among them, he said.

“I have heard the news but it doesn’t bring me any comfort because nothing will bring back my husband”, said Dragana Prodanovic Haines, the Croatian wife of aid worker David Haines who was kidnapped by IS and killed a year ago.

“It is a very small solace to learn that Jihadi John may have been killed by the U.S. government”, John and Diane Foley said in a statement.

Sotloff’s sister, Lauren, posted on Facebook that the militant “should of had his head cut off also and been left to suffer. Unfortunately this still doesn’t change things”, she wrote.

“On the basis that he has been targeted, there is sound legal base for targeting somebody who poses such a risk to other people and has proclaimed himself as willing to kill them”. Aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning. He embraced English life, becoming “football-mad” and a fan of the Manchester United soccer team.

Court papers published by British media connected Emwazi to a network of extremists known as “The London Boys” that were originally trained by the Shebab, Al-Qaeda’s East Africa affiliate.

A USA defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an evolving intelligence assessment, said US officials believe the two people in the targeted vehicle were killed, but the officials were not able to say with certainty that Emwazi was one of them.

“Emwazi should have been tried as a war criminal”, the group said in a statement.