IS executioner ‘Jihadi John’ injured in air strike — reports
LONDON: The British government said on Saturday it was investigating reports that ‘Jihadi John’, the Britishaccented Islamic State militant apparently responsible for the beheading of western hostages, had been injured in a US air strike.
The Foreign Office could not confirm reports published in the Mail yesterday that the masked executioner, who has appeared in a series of grisly videos posted online, had been wounded while attending a meeting of IS leaders in an Iraqi town close to the Syrian border last week.
According to the paper, he was taken to hospital following the US-led attack on a bunker in AlQaim, western Iraq, on Nov 8 that killed around 10 IS commanders and wounded 40 more.
The Mail reported that it was the same attack that injured elusive IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, sparking initial rumours that he had been killed.
‘Jihadi John’, named after Beatle John Lennon due to his British background, is believed to be responsible for the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Allan Henning.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, asked about the reports while at the G20 summit in Brisbane, said: “We should be in no doubt that I want ‘Jihadi John’ to face justice for the appalling acts that have been carried out in Syria, but I wouldn’t make any comment on individual issues or strikes and the like, you wouldn’t expect me to. — AFP