Brothers Mohamed (left) and Akram Sebah, from London, died waging jihad in Syria's civil war. (Daily Mail) |
Ready to Die for Allah
“Islamic State backgrounder: British fighters make up a quarter of foreign Jihadists,” by Jonathan Owen, the Independent, August 20, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
The brutal beheading of US journalist James Foley by a Briton fighting in the ranks of Isis, which calls itself Islamic State, is the latest – and most shocking – example of British jihadists committing atrocities in Syria and Iraq.
Britain accounts for around one in four of all European fighters who have pledged their allegiance to Isis, with an estimated 500 Britons among 2,000 foreign fighters from across Europe.
One reason is the sheer ease with which people can get to Istanbul in Turkey, and then catch a bus to get into neighbouring Syria, according to Charlie Cooper, a researcher at the Quilliam Foundation. Isis wants to “show off” its foreign fighters as part of its propaganda, he added. And the unnamed man who beheaded Mr Foley “will have committed himself entirely to furthering the aims of the Islamic state” and “completely rejected his British nationality”.
The killing of the American journalist was evidence that British jihadis were “some of the most vicious and vociferous fighters” in Syria and Iraq, said Shiraz Maher, a senior researcher at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London. They are “very much at the forefront of this conflict” with roles ranging from suicide bombers to executioners, he added.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the killing an “appalling example of the brutality of this organisation” and admitted that “significant numbers” of Britons are involved in “terrible crimes, probably in the commission of atrocities”.
From Jihad Watch.
British Nationals Join al Qaeda in Syria
The Rise of British Jihadists in Syria
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