2 British IS ‘Beatles’ fighters captured

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 defense official confirmed yesterday.

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.

The two were also "believed to have acted as guards and interpreters involved in ISIS' illegal captivity of Western hostages, and are thought to have links to the British terrorist often called 'Jihadi John,'" the official said.

Last year, the US State Department said the Londonborn 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 the Islamic State group.

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

Emwazi was the group's leader, gaining notoriety for using a knife to kill hostages in a string of beheadings that were videotaped and posted on the internet, generating outrage against the IS group 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 2014-2015 period, earning a reported millions of dollars in ransom payments.