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US sources claim 'Jihadi John' dead after drone strike

The Pentagon has said it is not clear he was killed but defence sources say they’re 99% sure.

US DEFENCE SOURCES have said they are “99% sure” a drone strike has killed British Islamic State militant Jihadi John.

The militant, whose real name is Mohammed Emwazi, has featured in a number of videos in which Western hostages were beheaded. These included US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, aid workers Adbul-Rahman Kassig, David Haines and Alan Henning and Japanese tourist Kenji Goto.

Though Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said it was not clear whether Emwazi had been killed in the strike, a senior defence official told Fox News: “We are 99% sure we got him. We were on him for some time.”

A source also told ABC News that the operation had been “flawless” and a “clean hit”.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said officials are not certain whether the strike killed Emwazi.

He said the strike had been a joint effort and that British intelligence agencies were working around the clock to find the British-accented militant, whom he called the militant group”s “lead executioner.”

Cameron also said the US strike had been “an act of self-defence” and the right thing to do. He said targeting Emwazi was “a strike at the heart” of the Islamic State group.

Following news of the strike, the mother of victim Steven Sotloff told NBC news that even if the militant had been killed “it doesn’t bring my son back”.

Who knows if he’s gone. I don’t think there will ever be closure.

“Sadistic and merciless”

Jihadi John” was six years old when his family moved to London. He grew up in North Kensington, a middle-class area where a network of Islamist extremists was uncovered in recent years.

As a child, he was a fan of Manchester United football club and the band S Club 7, according to a 1996 school year book published by The Sun. He later went on to study information technology at the University of Westminster.

Court papers published by British media connected Emwazi to a network of extremists known as “The London Boys” that were originally trained by al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda’s East Africa affiliate.

One hostage who fell under Emwazi’s control in the IS group’s hub in Raqa talked of a “cold, sadistic and merciless” killer.

- With reporting from AFP and Associated Press. 

Read: ‘Feel it? Cold, isn’t it?’ – Jihadi John caressed hostage’s neck with knife blade>

Read: Mother of ‘Jihadi John’ says she recognised son’s voice in hostage videos>

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129 Comments
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    Mute scoop delivery
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:02 PM

    Having listened to Dermot this morning on newstalk he quite literally came across as snobby. He had no legitimate reasons for pushing against the stations in the south side. And each reason he cited was more ridiculous than the last. It was ridiculous, this service takes a huge amount of car uses off the roads it doesn’t need to make money it should have some subvention. Its a service for the city in all senses.

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:43 PM

    He is a snob. It’s blatant snobbery. You just have to look at the proposed sites in question. Absolute hypocrites. All tree hugging and eco warrior until you ask then to make a small cosmetic sacrifice. Whip the bike stations away from those areas and that will get their attention.

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    Mute Aoife
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    Sep 13th 2016, 7:00 PM

    He’s the guy that accused water protesters of being violent thugs a while back. He’s bad news altogether.

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    Mute Alien8
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    Sep 13th 2016, 10:28 PM

    Lacey is a bad egg alright, and i would suggest he would block this if jcd wouldn’t pay for his regular teeth whitening, but there has to be a point where you go from subsidising to prostituting your city and sticking jumbo boards up to allow a token subsidisation of a scheme which should ideally by completely run by the council, and any advertising sold directly at annual costs to advertising agencies.

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    Mute Sean Brennan
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    Sep 14th 2016, 1:21 AM

    Absolute bullshite by a lot of you here. I don’t have much time for Dermot – but on this one I agree. I live in Donnybrook, work the streets as a TidyTowns’der and yes – objected to this proposed advertisement junket on our Village streets. Lets not forget – and I mean this everywhere – advertisement hording is pure capitalist clutter. We have suggested alternative sites for this hording in return of bike stands in the Village – but no no no – thats not acceptable. Sorry no more bike stands till you cave into our demands. Pressurise the public to agree and give in to there demands in “their prime location” and you’ll get bike stands at the current rate. They pack up and gone attitude, leave you with advertising clutter – lets move elsewhere to destroy heritage towns further. Come on – it’s not snobbery its about protecting what you have and not letting the Market’eers win. Dublin is unique, beautiful and has an abundance of great villages and communities, lets not destroy that so that the marketeers can make a few bob for their clients with a false dangling carrot and a mess behind afterwards. Rant over.

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    Mute John Considine
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:41 PM

    The Greens voting against ads promoting bikes? If it was raining soup, those dopes would hand out forks.

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    Mute Veron Skvortsova
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:06 PM

    A pile of these signs have been placed in the south west inner city despite very few to no stations in the area. All to pay for the yuppies in D4. It should not be funded by placement of these eyesores. But since it is, D4 should take its share of these Yokes. For the paltry amount of money the scheme costs the state should fund it entirely. 30 million euro was spent for the British Queen to be facilitated for 5 days. The state has the money when it wants to have it.

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    Mute Steve Smith
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:30 PM

    Something’s needed to cover up the shite that is the north inner city.

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    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:47 PM

    Yeah you’re right there’s loads of Metropoles along by the Luas on the Naas road. Some in Ballyfermot too. The nearest bike station is about 3km away. Let the people of West Dublin put up with the signs and people in nice areas can have virtually free bikes. Sounds like a great deal for the nice areas. Kilmainham Jail is as far South West as they go.

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    Mute Himself
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    Sep 13th 2016, 7:07 PM

    Ah come on .. on my way home, I walk by three of these billboard things. I walk home because there is not a single bike stand in the south east of the city, D4 take your share and let me have a bike stand at the Coombe!

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    Mute Veron Skvortsova
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    Sep 13th 2016, 10:15 PM

    You mean south west. The coombe is sw.

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Sep 14th 2016, 12:45 AM

    Ahhh Niw – There’s enough Bikes in D4. They’ve a great saddle & they’re a great ride.

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    Mute Richard Deegan
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    Sep 13th 2016, 7:26 PM

    Shouldn’t it be be more like one of the metropoles right beside one of these bike stations?

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    Mute Tara Keenan
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    Sep 13th 2016, 8:20 PM

    In 2006 JcDecaux applied for an illuminated metropole beside my home of 4.85m X 3.48 m. Dublin City Council overruled my and the residents association’s objections. Thankfully An Bord Pleanala rejected it. There are no bikes for rent in Dublin 5, but we were part of the deal. I wouldn’t wish these signs on any community and applaud the council for their decision.

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    Mute emily davison
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    Sep 13th 2016, 9:52 PM

    The Northside has a lot of the advertisements but the Southside has most of the stations. Go figure

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Sep 13th 2016, 10:09 PM

    They’re handy for sheltering under while you wait for a lift in the rain.

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    Mute king Tut
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    Sep 13th 2016, 9:13 PM

    Remove 8 bike stations from the southside. Simples!

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    Mute David Dickenson
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:06 PM

    They wouldn’t notice just four more on the northside.

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    Mute JFN
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    Sep 13th 2016, 6:40 PM

    Sure they’d be destroyed in a month!

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    Mute Sean @114
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    Sep 13th 2016, 8:33 PM

    You must confine your outdoor activities to Shrewsbury Road if you think they’d be any safer on the south side bud.

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Sep 14th 2016, 12:48 AM

    Yeah – they’d all be pregnant.

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    Mute Irish Cottage Rental
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    Sep 13th 2016, 11:28 PM

    FFS any modern city will find ways of finding solutions to this – we need bikes – lots of them.

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    Mute James Delaney
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    Sep 14th 2016, 12:47 AM

    And there plentiful on the South-Side.

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    Mute Conor Rock
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    Sep 14th 2016, 8:17 AM

    Interesting to see Sinn Fein, Labour and the Greens and a lot of people want to pay higher taxes or cut other council services to fund dublin bikes. That is of course the consequence of higher state funding and less advertising. Although oddly I imagine their tune would change if taxes were to raise or other services were to be cut.

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