MOSCOW, November 14 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova – A story, released by Russia's Regnum news agency, about the elimination of the 'White Widow,' one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, has neither been completely debunked nor proved.
"A Northern Ireland-born Islamic terrorist described as the world's most wanted woman has been shot dead, according to unconfirmed reports. Banbridge-born Samantha Lewthwaite was allegedly gunned down by a Russian sniper in Ukraine two weeks ago," Belfast Telegraph wrote on November 13.
The news, initially reported by Russia's Regnum agency on November 12, was immediately picked up by mainstream Western mass media, including the Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, Independent and Evening Standard among others.
Tomorrow's Daily Mirror front page #WhiteWidow #WarrenClarke pic.twitter.com/gH4P8MutCZ
— Barry Rabbetts (@BRabbetts) 12 ноября 2014
Samantha Lewthwaite, 30, was married to Jermaine Lindsay, a suicide bomber who killed himself together with other 26 passengers in a Tube train in London in 2005. She was the alleged mastermind of the Westgate shopping centre terror attack in Kenya in 2013, conducted by Somali Al Shabaab Islamist insurgents resulting in the death of 68 victims.
Converted to Islam at the age of 17, Samantha Lewthwaite "has subsequently been identified as a suspected main recruiter for al-Qaida in east Africa," the Belfast Telegraph notes. The terrorist is wanted on several charges, including "possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony." The media source adds that Lewthwaite, dubbed the "White Widow," had undergone plastic surgery in order to avoid capture. It was also believed that she had joined the Islamic State and was training female jihadists in Syria, the New York Post notes.
According to Regnum's news, Samantha Lewthwaite fought on the side of Aidar, the notorious Ukrainian volunteer battalion.
However, Aidar commander Serhiy Melnychuk dismissed the report, claiming that Samantha Lewthwaite has never served as a sniper in his battalion.
"We don’t have any White Widows, and nor could we. [The Russians are] trying to drive a wedge between us and our British allies," he said as quoted by BuzzFeed News.
However, Western observers note that there have been a number of foreign militants fighting alongside Aidar since the beginning of the ATO ("Anti-Terror Operation") in the East of Ukraine, according to the BBC. In September 2014 the infamous militant group was accused of abuses and war crimes against peaceful civilians in eastern Ukraine by Amnesty International, the human rights international organization. The report "Ukraine: Abuses and war crimes by the Aidar Volunteer Battalion in the North Luhansk region" exposed the atrocities, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, robbery, extortion, and possible executions committed by the Aidar insurgents.
Kenya's intelligence officers have also expressed skepticism regarding the White Widow's death:
"We have been following this woman's movements over the years and we know she has been behind murderous bomb attacks in Kenya, as well as radicalizing local youths. We would frankly be happy to know that she has been eliminated but we cannot take these reports seriously," the Kenyan intelligence source said as quoted by the Daily Mail.
However, Alexey Toporov, the Russian journalist behind the story, insists that his source is 100 percent trustworthy:
"Unfortunately I cannot add anything apart from what I’ve already told Regnum news agency. I act in accordance with my agreement with the source of information. But this info is 100 percent true; this is a reliable source and I trust it absolutely," Toporov told RT.
The Daily Mail cites the Russian journalist, who wrote on a social media site: "The White Widow ended in a bad way. To be more exact, she ended up killing people. This viper, who organized the attack on a shopping centre in Nairobi where people including women and children were shot dead because they could not tell the name of Muhammad's first wife, was using false name and fighting in Donbass. She was a sniper in one of the (Ukrainian) punishment battalions, supposedly Aidar. She killed many of our guys."
So far, there has been no official confirmation or dismissal of the news.
