Syria offensive sees IS suspects from Britain taken into US custody

Two suspected Islamic State (IS) terrorists originally from Britain have been taken from Syria into American custody.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, dubbed “the worst of the worst” by US President Donald Trump, have been moved by American security services to an “undisclosed location” amid fears they could escape custody as Turkish troops invade the Syrian Kurdish-held region of northeastern Syria.

But former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers said the pair should be brought to the UK to face justice.

Together, their cell beheaded seven British, US and Japanese journalists and aid workers, and a group of Syrian soldiers in 2014 and 2015, boasting of the butchery in chilling propaganda videos.

The barbarism often featured members of group, which also included terrorists British-raised Aine Davis and Mohammed Emwazi.

British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines were among those killed by the four-man cell, while other victims included US citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig.

President Trump said: “We are taking some of the most dangerous Isis fighters out. We’ve taken them out, and we’re putting them in different locations where it’s secure.”

US officials confirmed this included Elsheikh, a mechanic from White City in west London, and Kotey, from Paddington, also in west London.

The pair, raised in the UK but since been stripped of their British citizenship, are among thousands of IS fighters, including others from Britain, who have been held in camps in the region. They were captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January last year.

The Crown Prosecution Service has said there is “insufficient evidence” to prosecute them in the UK.

But Sir John told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What’s happening now is two former British citizens are likely to face American justice.

“They should probably face British justice here.”