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A married father-of-two is believed to have become the second British
jihadist to have killed himself while fighting in Syria and Iraq.
The man, named in reports as Kabir Ahmed, from Derby, is believed to
have been involved in a suicide bomb attack in the town of Beiji,
north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, two days ago.
Going under the name Abu Sumayyah, the 32-year-old is said not to have
told his family that he was fleeing Britain to fight for terrorist
organisation Islamic State.
It would make Ahmed the second British jihadist suicide bomber, after
Abdul Waheed Majeed – a 41-year-old father-of-three from Crawley in
West Sussex – blew himself up in February when he drove a lorry laden
with explosives into a jail in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Ahmed's identity was confirmed by Shiraz Maher, from the International
Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College in London,
which monitors social media accounts of alleged jihadists.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Maher wrote: "British foreign fighter, Abu
Sumayyah, (real name: Kabir Ahmed) from Derby carried out a suicide
bombing in Baiji, Iraq, yesterday.
"British suicide bomber in Iraq, Abu Sumayyah (Kabir Ahmed) originally
joined Jund al-Sham in Syria and then moved to Islamic State.
"Abu Sumayyah (Kabir Ahmed), British suicide bomber in Iraq, was 32,
married, and had children."
The Foreign Office is now looking into the incident. A spokesman said:
"We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Iraq
and are looking into them."
Ahmed was one of three men to be jailed in 2012 for handing out a
leaflet calling for gay people to be executed.
Ahmed, with two others, distributed material entitled The Death
Penalty? that showed an image of a mannequin hanging from a noose and
quoted Islamic texts that said capital punishment was the only way to
rid society of homosexuality.
Following a trial at Derby Crown Court, Ahmed and two co-defendants
Ihjaz Ali and Razwan Javed were convicted of distributing threatening
written material intending to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual
orientation – the first prosecution of its kind since legislation came
into force in March 2010.
The leaflet stated that the Islamic verdict on anyone caught
committing homosexuality is to apply capital punishment to both
parties involved.
It said: ''The death sentence is the only way this immoral crime can
be erased from corrupting society and act as a deterrent for any other
ill person who is remotely inclined in this bent way.''
Judge John Burgess told the men their intention was "to do great harm
in a peaceful community".
Ahmed died when he drove a truck packed with explosives into a convoy
of a top Iraqi police officer, killing eight people including the
ranking official, authorities said.
The blast killed Lt Gen Faisal Malik Zamel, who was inspecting forces
in the town, and seven other police officers, while wounding 15
people, hospital staff and police officers.
It comes as the US confirmed it conducted a series of air strikes
targeting Islamic State (IS) leaders in the north of the country,
although it was not known whether IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was
among those targeted.
Association Press
