Family confirm death of Briton who lost life fighting for jihadi group

THE family of a British Muslim who died in Kenya fighting for terror group Al Shabaab said they confirmed his death after finding a picture of his body online.

Thomas Evans, 25, contacted his family to say he had travelled to Somalia to join the organisation in 2012 after leaving their home in Buckinghamshire.

He is believed to be among suspected extremists killed in an attack on an army camp in Lamu Country, Kenya military officials said.

His younger brother Michael said: “The first thing I did, I looked on Twitter, and the first thing I found was a picture of his body. There was no doubt it was him from that picture.”

His mother Sally, from High Wycombe, added: “We knew.”

The pair believe that Thomas, who converted to Islam in 2009, turned to extremism after being influenced initially by “people he was mixing with” in the area, before later being targeted online.

Al Shabaab, which is banned in the UK, is a Somalia-based group with links to al Qaida which has waged a violent campaign against the Somali transitional federal government for several years.

Michael Evans added: “It’s hard because we remember him for being my brother, your son, but to everyone else he’s just a terrorist. They don’t have the good memories.”

Thomas Evans first attempted to move to Kenya at the age of 21 but was turned back at the airport by police. However, he later went on to travel to Egypt .

Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mrs Evans said her son then called in January 2012 to say he had joined the terror group.

“He rang up then and told us he was in Somalia and had joined Al Shabaab, and not to worry,” Ms Evans said.

“In all honesty, I didn’t know what Al Shabaab was.”

At the weekend, the family of a teenager from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, reportedly killed while fighting for IS in Iraq said they had been left “utterly devastated and heartbroken by the unspeakable tragedy” and those who sent him to his death had preyed on his “innocence and vulnerability”.

Talha Asmal, 17, who reportedly became Britain’s youngest suicide bomber when he detonated a vehicle fitted with explosives, has been described as “a loving, kind, caring and affable teenager”.