He hid his face, but “Jihadi John” was the English-speaking voice of ISIS. His twisted, videotaped taunts and acts of terrible cruelty — beheading hostages who had gone to the Middle East to help others and report stories to the world — symbolized the Islamist militant group’s depravity and ruthlessness.
Not anymore, it appears.
US Army Col. Steven Warren said Friday that a drone strike the previous night killed everyone in the targeted vehicle, with Mohammed Emwazi — aka “Jihadi John” — likely among them.
“We are reasonably certain that we killed the target that we intended to kill, which is Jihadi John,” the Army spokesman said. “…This guy was a human animal, and killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place.”
The United States had been tracking him closely since Wednesday, and Thursday he was seen leaving a building and getting into a car, US officials said. Three drones went after that vehicle, which also had another person inside, and two Hellfire missiles were fired.
A Syrian activist group said a missile hit Emwazi’s car directly at 11:51 p.m. (4:51 p.m. ET) in front of an ISIS court in Raqqa. Citing a source in the de facto Syrian capital, the same group said that ISIS militants then ringed that vehicle and two others that had been struck to prevent anyone from getting closer.
Speaking hours later on Friday, British Prime Minister David Cameron cast the airstrike as an act of self-defense. If it is confirmed Emwazi is dead, “it will strike at the heart of ISIS,” said Cameron, whose government worked with their U.S. colleagues ahead of the strike.
“We always said we will do whatever is necessary to track down Emwazi and stop him taking the lives of others,” he said.
