Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BRIT JIHADIS HIDE IN TUNNEL STRONGHOLD
IS mastermind’s No 2 seized Some 3,000 ISIS diehards may be holed up underground still
ISLAMIC State mastermind Abu Bakr al-baghdadi’s deputy was caught cowering in a tunnel under a house in Syria preparing to blow himself up.
Osama Awaid Al-ibrahim, or Abu Zeid, was hiding in an underground passage with 20 mobile phones, 80 gold ingots and a huge wad of cash.
He surrendered after being talked out by his sister and was arrested by the Us-led coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces in Al-tayyana, east of the Euphrates river.
The former Syrian officer defected in the civil war and joined al-qaeda, then Islamic State.
It was also reported that Dhef Al-melash, who served as a public relations officer for the terror group, has been seized. BRITISH jihadis are among thousands of Islamic State fighters holed up in Syria and Iraq, despite an American-led onslaught against them.
As many as 3,000 ISIS diehards are feared to be hiding in hardto-reach tunnels and bunkers.
Experts warned the network was still “lethal” and “capable of bloodshed on a large-scale”.
A senior security source said: “Islamic State fighters have retreated to well-strengthened underground networks in the desert.
“Inevitably, a core of British fighters who fled advancing Us-backed Kurdish units have taken refuge in bunkers and tunnels, which are tough to get to.
“It has become increasingly difficult to take them on on the battlefield because their defences are so strong.
“They are a lethal terrorist organisation and are still capable of dispensing mayhem and bloodshed on a large scale.”
Thousands of Kurdish-led fighters, backed by hundreds of US special forces, are tackling ISIS. It has been driven out of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa, Syria, after three years of air strikes, involving millions of pounds of bombs, and ground attacks.
But it is believed the network has been boosted by recruits flooding over Turkey’s border in the past year, with fears as many as 100 a month crossed to Syria.
Our source said: “Many British jihadis have been killed on the battlefield or executed for trying to flee, but others have joined up with remaining fighters in Syria.” It is even thought ISIS mastermind Abu Bakr al-baghdadi may have survived countless air strikes and could still be directing the group.
There are believed to be some 2,000 to 3,000 jihadis across Syria and Iraq.
Operation Inherent Resolve, the Us-led joint task force tackling ISIS, warned it was difficult to track their numbers.
Army Col Sean Ryan said recently: “The numbers game is difficult as ISIS is underground.
“Early estimates probably did not take into account the elaborate industrial-strength tunnels where many ISIS were hiding.”