News
Louis Dor
May 24, 2016
Then-15-year-old El Shafee Elsheikh, right, seen with his mother and younger brother Mahmoud, who was reportedly killed after also travelling to Syria (Picture: Family photo/Washington Post)
The fourth member of the Isis execution squad dubbed 'The Beatles' for their British accents, who were led by Mohammed Emwazi (or 'Jihadi John'), has been identified as a former fairground mechanic from west London.
El Shafee Elsheikh, a 27-year-old convert is believed to have travelled to Syria in 2012 having been radicalised in west London Mosques, and has been identified by British and American intelligence forces, BuzzFeed News reported, investigating in collaboration with the Washington Post.
His younger brother, Mahmoud, is understood to have followed him to the Middle East and was reportedly fighting for Isis until he was killed in Iraq last year.
‘The Beatles’ execution group beheaded 27 hostages, including British, American and Japanese hostages, as well as 18 members of the Syrian army.
The other two members of the group have since been revealed as Aine Davis and Alexanda Kotey, both from London.
Emwazi was killed in a US drone strike in November, soon after being identified as ‘Jihadi John’.
While these Britons have become notorious, the below chart from Statista shows that Belgium was the western European country which provided the most fighters to the terrorist group in 2015.
Jordan and Tunisia were found to contribute significantly more than any other countries in terms of fighters per capita, 315 and 280 each per million people.
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