U.S. and British forces have carried out airstrike in Syria targeting terrorist “Jihadi John,” and reports early Friday morning indicate that strike may have killed him.
“We are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide additional information as and where appropriate,” Pentagon press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement late Thursday, confirming the airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, targeting Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John.”
Emwazi, a British citizen, has been featured in videos showing the grisly murders of U.S. journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, “and a number of other hostages,” Cook’s statement said.
Both CNN and the Washington Post cited officials saying Emwazi was targeted by a drone.
According to one senior U.S. official, this was a mission of “persistent surveillance,” and authorities knew it was Emwazi when they took the shot at a vehicle.
Speaking outside Downing Street, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday he was not sure if the strike was yet successful, but said it’s “a strike at the heart of ISIL [the Islamic State].”
“It will demonstrate to those that would do Britain, our people and allies harm we have a long reach, we have unwavering determination and we never forget about our citizens,” he said, describing Emwazi as an “ongoing and serious threat” to civilians around the world, particularly in Syria and the United Kingdom.
“He was ISIL’s lead executioner and let us not forget he killed many, many Muslims too, and he was intent on murdering many more people, he said of the combined U.S. and U.K. military effort,” he said. “So this was an act of self-defense.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said four people were killed in a strike in Raqqa late Thursday.
“The car was hit in the center of town, near the municipality building,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding sources described one of those killed as a “senior British member of the group.”
