Two members of IS ‘Beatles’ group captured in Syria

WASHINGTON: Two British Islamic State fighters – members of a kidnapping cell dubbed “The Beatles” that was notorious for videotaping beheadings – have been captured in Syria, a US defence official confirmed.

The two members of the group who had still been in the field, Alexanda Amon Kotey and El Shafee el-Sheikh – both from Britain – were captured in January in eastern Syria by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

The pair are believed to have “participated in the detention, exploitation and execution of Western detainees”, the official said in a statement on Thursday.

The two were also “believed to have acted as guards and interpreters involved in IS’ illegal captivity of Western hostages, and are thought to have links to the British terrorist often called ‘Jihadi John’”.

Last year, the US State Department said the London-born Kotey had “likely” taken part in executions and used “exceptionally cruel torture methods, including electric shock and waterboarding”, while guarding the group’s captives.

Among the other two members of the “Beatles” group, Mohammed Emwazi – “Jihadi John” – was killed in 2015 in a drone strike by the US-led coalition fighting IS.

The fourth member of the gang, Aine Davis, is being held in Turkey.

Mohammed was the group’s leader, gaining notoriety for using a knife to kill hostages in a string of beheadings that were videotaped and posted online, generating outrage against IS but also inspiring similar acts by the extremists.

His victims included US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.

Overall, the group handled more than 20 foreign hostages during the 2014-15 period, earning a reported millions of dollars in ransom payments.

Hostages who survived reported being beaten, shocked by tasers and undergoing waterboarding at the hands of the group.

It was the hostages who gave them their nickname “The Beatles”, after the legendary rock group, for their British accents. The US official did not give any information on the condition of the two or what would happen to them.

“El-Sheikh and Kotey represent a small portion of the hundreds of foreign-born IS terrorists from several nations who have been taken off the battlefield by Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria since October 2017,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

The British foreign ministry declined to confirm the capture.

“We don’t comment on individual cases or ongoing investigations,” a spokesman said.