MOSCOW, November 22 (Sputnik) — Two UK citizens have allegedly been killed while fighting in the ranks of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, ITV broadcaster reported Saturday.
Londoners Abu Abdullah Habashi, 21, and Abu Dharda, 20, have reportedly been killed in Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border, where the jihadist group are fighting with Kurdish fighters in a bid to assume control of the town, according to the British television network.
One of the dead, Habashi, had made pro-IS remarks on social media and appeared in two IS videos, according to ITV. He was of British-Eritrean origin and converted to Islam only when he was 16, the broadcaster said.
IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has managed to appeal to a number of proponents beyond Syria, where it has been fighting against the government since 2012, and Iraq to where the jihadist group furthered its attacks in June 2014, declaring a caliphate on the territories it seized.
Kobani, one of the largest Kurdish towns in Syria, has been under siege by Islamic State since mid-September. Try as it may, the US-led international airstrike coalition has not yet succeeded in freeing the town.
Young people from a number of countries, including Germany, Austria and Australia, have reportedly travelled to Syria to fight for the jihadist group.
In August, the US State Department reported some 12,000 foreigners from more than 50 countries are fighting alongside IS militants in the Middle East. The foreigners have been drawn through effective propaganda especially designed to target young people.
