United States ‘reasonably certain’ that Jihadi John killed in air strikes

LONDON/NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) – News that the Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John” had apparently died in a USA air strike brought relief mingled with fresh grief on Friday to the loved ones of the Western aid workers and journalists he allegedly killed on video.

Another USA official told The Associated Press that three drones – two US and one British – targeted the vehicle in which Emwazi was believed to be traveling in Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed capital in northern Syria.

USA military spokesman Steve Warren said officials were “reasonably certain” they had killed Jihadi John with a Hellfire missile fired from a drone.

“A vehicle carrying four foreign Islamic State leaders, including one British Jihadi was hit by USA air strikes right after the governorate building in Raqqa city”, Rami Abdulrahman, Director of the UK-based Observatory told Reuters. The official is not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Emwazi appeared in beheading videos of victims including British aid worker David Haines and taxi driver Alan Henning.

Bethany Haines, daughter of David Haines, told ITV News she felt an “instant sense of relief” when she heard the news Emwazi may have been killed. He said targeting Emwazi was “a strike at the heart” of the Islamic State group.

Opinions differ over the Pentagon’s method of killing key figures of Islamist terror groups in counterterrorism operations using drone strikes.

Warren said the world is better off without the man believed to have beheaded several Western hostages, whom he referred to as a human animal.

In the British media they were nicknamed John, Paul and Ringo, after members of the Beatles, due to their English accents.

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.

He said British officials had “been working with the US around the clock to track him down”.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said while the death had not been confirmed, “it appears Mohammed Emwazi has been held to account for his callous and brutal crimes”.

“It’s too little too late”, the Sotloffs said in a statement.

It’s also hard not to feel the pain of Foley’s parents, John and Diane Foley, who issued a statement saying Emwazi’s death was “a very small solace” and that they would have preferred that as much effort had been put into rescuing their son as was put into eventually finding his killer.

Mr. Emwazi, a well educated, middle-class computer programmer born in Kuwait and raised in London, joined IS in 2013.