Baby-faced Isis recruiter from Manchester killed in Syria, say reports
An Islamic State (Isis) fighter from Manchester who urged other Brits to join the jihadists has been killed in Syria, say reports. Wannabe rapper Raphael Hostey, from the Moss Side area of the city, fought under the nom de guerre Abu Qaqa al-Britani.
Despite his childlike looks he is said to have risen to the rank of senior commander whilst attempting to recruit fellow disenfranchised Brits to join him in the Daesh (Isis) self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
The 23-year-old was one of several youngsters from Manchester to join IS as the extremists grew in power across Syria and Iraq in October 2013. Hostey allegedly travelled with university friends Mohammad Azzam Javeed, from Levenshulme, and Anil Khalil Raoufi, from Didsbury, both aged 20.
Hostey, a former graphic design student at Liverpool John Moores University, is said to have left a wife and child behind when he travelled to the IS-stronghold of Raqqa. But his jihad came to an end last week according to Amarnath Amarasingam, a researcher at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
He is said to have died in action with several other British jihadis as the net tightens around IS. Before his death Hostey incited violence through his numerous Twitter accounts.
Nicknamed 'al-Britani Afro' because of his hairstyle he was said to have been disciplined by IS after he kept stealing other militants' brides and accused of only helping the prettiest females get to Syria. Javeed and Raoufi are believed to have died fighting in 2014.
On 30 April an alleged British IS terrorist has contacted his local newspaper in Walsall claiming to be working as a teacher in Turkey. Sajid Aslam's wife, Lorna Moore from Walsall, was convicted of concealing information about his terror plans to join the extremists at the Old Bailey in February this year.
And on 1 May IS hackers published a 'hitlist' of 76 US military personnel they believe to have been involved in drone strikes against the jihadists in their self-declared caliphate. The list was published by the so-called 'Islamic State Hacking Division' online with the group claiming to have another database of 'secret information' gleaned by their 'brothers in the UK'.
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