ENGLAND, September 8 (Reuters) — Britain has killed two of its own nationals who had been fighting for Islamic State (IS) and plotting attacks on British soil, in its first air strike in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday (September 7).
“In recent weeks, it’s been reported that two ISIL fighters of British nationality, who had been plotting attacks against the UK and other countries have been killed in air strikes. Both Junaid Hussain and Reyaad Khan were British nationals based in Syria who were involved in actively recruiting ISIL sympathisers and seeking to orchestrate specific and barbaric attacks against the West including directing a number of planned terrorist attacks right here in Britain such as plots to attack high profile public commemorations, including those taking place this summer,” the prime minister told parliament.
Despite not having a parliamentary mandate to take military action in Syria, Cameron told lawmakers that, as an act of self-defence, Briton Reyaad Khan had been targeted and killed in a precision drone strike in the country.
Cameron said the strike was carried out by a British Royal Air Force (RAF) remotely-piloted aircraft in August and that two people travelling with the man, including another Briton, Ruhul Amin, were also killed.
“I can inform the House that in an act of self defence, and after meticulous planning, Reyaad Khan was killed in a precision air strike carried out on 21st August by an RAF remotely-piloted aircraft while he was travelling in a vehicle in the area of Raqqa in Syria. In addition to Reyaad Khan, who was the target of the strike, two ISIL associates were also killed, one of whom, Ruhul Amin, has been identified as a UK national,” Cameron said.
Khan, from the Welsh capital Cardiff, and Amin from Aberdeen in Scotland had their assets frozen by Britain’s finance ministry last year after reports they had been involved in terrorism-related activities in Syria and appeared in an IS recruitment video.
A third Briton fighting with IS, Junaid Hussain, was killed in a separate U.S. air strike, Cameron said. U.S. authorities last month reported on the death in Syria of Hussain, describing him as a hacker from Birmingham in England who was believed to have been one of Islamic State’s top computer experts.
British warplanes have launched regular air attacks against Islamic State fighters in neighbouring Iraq in recent months and flown drones over Syria to gather military intelligence. But unlike some countries in a U.S.-led international coalition, it does not generally target IS in Syria.
Cameron said he would not join coalition strikes in Syria without first winning parliamentary approval.
