British Isis suicide bomber Abu Musa al-Britani launches bomb attack on Iraqi forces

An Islamic State (Isis) militant named as Abu Musa al-Britani, who is believed to be British, has carried out an attack in Anbar province, targeting a convoy of Iraqi army and Sunni forces. Daesh has claimed that the bomber was responsible for "killing nearly 30", making the announcement via the messaging app Telegram.

The British jihadist was pictured smiling for the camera and holding an AK47 rifle. The apparent image of the attacker included the caption: "Martyrdom brother Abu Musa al-Britani, Allah accepts him, the striker on the Rafdi army."

The death toll was disputed by Iraqi military sources who said that only the bomber died in the explosion. The Islamic miltant who was killed is believed to be British, as the name Abu Musa al-Britani is often the nom de guerre taken by IS (Daesh) fighters from the UK on suicide missions.

IS claimed the man rammed his vehicle into a group of Iraqi army troops and vehicles near al-Asad air base in the province of Anbar, as it was heading towards Kubaysah in the north-west of the province.

Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, King's College London, which monitors British jihadists, said if the reports are true he would be the UK's tenth suicide bomber. "This shows again that Britons have gone out there to be very much full participants in this war," he said in a Telegraph report.

Last year it was reported that British A-level student Fatlum Shakalu, 20 was among six militants who had blown themselves up in Ramadi. Shakalu had also used the name Abu Musa al-Britani.

Islamic State also claimed that five foreign suicide bombers had launched an attack in western Al-Anbar. It said the jihadists included a Frenchman, Turk and Jordanian in an attack that purported to have killed three Iraqi soldiers and left four others wounded.