Special to WorldTribune.com
Two terrorists have been identified as members of infamous executioner Jihadi John’s “Beatles” cell that beheaded several Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) hostages.
Alexe Kotey, 32, and Aine Davis, 31, both of London, became known as “The Beatles” by their hostages because of their British accents, according to an investigation by Buzzfeed and The Washington Post. The jihadists were employed as prison guards in ISIL’s de facto capital of Raqqa.
Released hostages said each member of Jihadi John’s cell had a Beatles name: George, Ringo, Paul and John. A Danish hostage revealed upon his release that the hostages witnessed an execution of an alleged spy by Jihadi John, while “Ringo” filmed the murder and “George” directed the incident. It is unknown which militant held which Beatles name.
Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, was killed in a U.S.-led coalition air strike in Raqqa in November. The coalition strike that killed Emwazi also killed a second, unidentified person.
Emwazi appeared in ISIL’s propaganda videos in which he beheaded U.S. journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley and Britons David Haines and Alan Henning.
The media investigation found that Emwazi, Kotey and Davis became friends in West London and attended the same mosque, Al-Manaar Mosque in Ladbroke Grove.
Kotey, of Ghanaian origin, was barred from Al-Manaar Mosque due to his extremist views. His current status remains unknown.
Kotey was a member of the “London Boys” network who have been linked to a number of terror plots in the UK and had traveled to the Gaza Strip as part of an aid convoy organized by London mayoral candidate George Galloway.
Davis is a known ISIL member who has been previously named in British courts in relation to extremist allegations.