ABC News is reporting that the ISIS terrorist nicknamed Jihadi John is believed to have been”eviscerated” in a drone strike as he left a building in Raqqa, Syria, to enter a vehicle.
According to U.S. officials, British subject Mohammed Emwazi is thought to have been taken out “without collateral damage,” and that he essentially “evaporated.”
“U.S. forces conducted an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, on Nov. 12, 2015 targeting Mohamed Emwazi, also known as ‘Jihadi John,'” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
“Emwazi, a British citizen, participated in the videos showing the murders of U.S. journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, and a number of other hostages,” Cook said. “We are assessing the results of tonight’s operation and will provide additional information as and where appropriate.”
Diane Foley, the mother of Emwazi’s first victim James Foley, told ABC News Emwazi’s death was “really a small solace to us.”
UPDATE: Per subsequent reports, the Pentagon is trying to confirm that the man killed was indeed Emwazi, but it seems unlikely that the announcement would have been made unless officials were pretty sure they got their man. But, we’ll wait and see.
Foley was raised a Catholic, and spoke about praying the rosary during a previous time in captivity, but there were reports that he had converted to Islam while in ISIS custody.
From the National Catholic Register, featuring Catholic theologian and Patheos blogger Pia de Solenni:
Pia de Solenni addressed this question of Foley’s martyrdom in the wake of his execution, but before the reports of his conversion to Islam surfaced.
She raised a number of important points, including the fact that a Catholic martyr for the faith is a man or woman who pays “the ultimate price”–choosing death rather than repudiating their Catholic faith and love for Jesus Christ.
But she offers additional points that suggest Foley did not convert to Islam, and that the staging of his execution actually confirmed that fact.
“We know that IS/ISIS/ISIL generally offers its captives a choice: convert to their brand of Islam or die, as witnessed by the thousands of people fleeing Iraq these past few weeks. It could be that they only wanted Foley because he was a US citizen and that they would have killed him regardless, but I doubt it. I think they would have celebrated if he’d become one of them. Heck, they’ve got plenty of Westerners joining them. The man who beheaded him is possibly a UK citizen,” she wrote.
“I don’t think it’s insignificant that they ‘made him stand against a wall and pose as if he had been crucified,’” she added, noting comments from another blogger.
In the end, only God knows the ultimate fates of both Emwazi and Foley. May He have mercy on their souls.
Image: YouTube screenshot
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