The death of the infamous British terrorist Jihadi John was confirmed in the latest issue of the IS propaganda magazine.
The Islamic State group has confirmed the death of ‘Jihadi John’ or Abu Muharib al – Muhajir. This confirmation has appeared in the latest issue of the Dabiq magazine.
In November last year, American officials had stated that they were sure that Jihadi John had been killed in a drone strike in the city of Raqqa – the de facto capital of the Islamic State.
The Dabiq confirmation is the first instance in which the terrorist group has addressed the death of Jihadi John. The magazine also narrated his journey to the group in an article spanning two pages.
It also reported that Jihadi John was instantly killed in the strike. Jihadi John was featured in a number of videos as the masked face of the Islamic State. In these videos, he would be seen dressed in black from head to toe. His only revealing features were his eyes and his voice. In most of these videos, he would be holding a knife.
Dabiq also published an unmasked picture of the terrorist. In the beginning of this month, another militant with a British accent appeared in an IS propaganda video.
This militant also resembled Jihadi John in many ways from his accent to the dress he was wearing, however, the very absence of Jihadi John almost confirmed the claims made by American agencies that the infamous IS executioner was dead indeed.
It was reported in the article that Jihadi John had origins in the North Eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula. At a very tender age, he migrated to London with his family. He would eventually grow to hate the city. The magazine also reported that he had also been shot during a battle.
Jihadi John or Emwazi was born in Kuwait. He moved to London when he was very young. In 2009, he traveled to Tanzania where he supposedly became radicalized. He was once deported from an East African country, and also been detained in Britain by counter terrorism officers in 2010. It is believed that he went to Syria in 2012 and joined the terrorist group, becoming an executioner for the group.
He was not seen in any video in 2015, but American officials said that he was alive and was somewhere in Raqqa. It was believed that he feared American drone attacks and was simply lying low. Some agencies still thought he was active in the group.
Jihadi John was never considered a spiritual figure in the group. He wasn’t a military genius either yet he was a celebrity within the organization.
He was first spotted in a video in 2014 holding a knife and threatening to kill a journalist. He is also believed to have been the executioner of several other journalists and aid workers.
