Jihadi John, the dreaded ISIS executioner and British militant identified as Mohammed Emwazi, was confirmed dead by the militants' propaganda magazine Dabiq.
Emwazi was thought to have been killed in a drone strike in November. He had appeared masked in beheading videos, including those of aid worker David Haines and taxi driver Alan Henning, noted the
BBC News.
Dabiq published an obituary for Emwazi, referring to him as Abu Muharib al-Muhajir, his name within the Islamic State. The magazine said Emwazi was killed on Nov. 12 "as the car he was in was targeted in a strike by an unmanned drone in the city of Raqqa, destroying the car and killing him instantly."
The details confirmed a U.S. version of a drone strike on a vehicle they believed Emwazi was in, said BBC News.
CNN said in January that another British-sounding militant had appeared in an ISIS propaganda video, suggesting to Western intelligence agenciest hat Emwazi may be dead.
The Kuwati-born Emwazi had told the London campaign group Cage that he tried to return there from Britain in 2010 but was blocked by British officials and he was placed on a terror watch list, according to
The Telegraph. He tried to enter Kuwait again in 2013 and disappeared after he was barred.
The Dabiq piece claimed that Emwazi tricked the British intelligence agency the MI5 in escaping.
"Right under the nose of the much-overrated MI5 British intelligence agency, Abū Muhārib together with his companion in hijrah carefully and secretly made their departure, utilizing every means available to them."
Emwazi and a traveling companion crossed "the mountain ranges of Europe and its marshy farmlands, sneaking across borders, and being detained by the authorities of various nations on at least two occasions" before reaching ISIS in Syria, per Dabiq
Emwazi grew up in a well-to-do family in West London and earned a college degree in computer programming graduated before traveling to Syria around 2012 and eventually joining ISIS, said the Washington Post.