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US confirms Islamic State computer expert killed in air strike

WASHINGTON - The US military confirmed on Friday that a British hacker who was one of the Islamic State movement's top computer experts and active in encouraging people abroad to carry out "lone wolf" attacks was killed in Syria by a US air strike.

 

Junaid Hussain of Birmingham, England, was killed on Aug. 24 by a US military air strike on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqah, said Air Force Colonel Pat Ryder, a spokesman for US Central Command.

 

Hussain had been involved in "actively recruiting ISIL sympathizers in the west to carry out 'lone wolf' style attacks," Ryder said, using an acronym for the militant group that has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq.

 

Hussain was responsible for releasing personal information of around 1,300 US military and government employees in recent weeks, and "sought to encourage" attacks against them, US officials said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.29.15, 08:11