US Confirms British IS Hacker Killed By Drone

The US military says it has confirmed the death by drone strike of a "very dangerous" British computer hacker for Islamic State in Syria.

Junaid Hussain was killed on 24 August, US Central Command spokesman Air Force Col Pat Ryder told reporters.

The 21-year-old had been involved in "actively recruiting ISIL sympathisers in the West to carry out 'lone wolf' style attacks", said Col Ryder, using another acronym for the group.

"We have taken a significant threat off the battlefield and have made it very clear that in terms of ISIL leadership, we are going to target them where we can," added Col Ryder.

Hussain was alleged by US officials to have released personal data of around 1,300 US military and government employees in recent weeks, and "sought to encourage" attacks against them.

He was said last month to have been number three on the Pentagon's "kill list" of IS targets.

"This individual was very dangerous," said Col Ryder.

"He had significant technical skills, and he had expressed a strong desire to kill Americans, and recruit others to kill Americans."

In an exclusive report, Sky News went undercover and contacted Hussain and his jihadi wife using anonymous online messaging services.

Sending us detailed guidebooks, they urged our fictional characters to form gangs and to create a British Islamic State over a long period.

Hussain, who is thought to have left Britain for Syria in 2013, allegedly told the investigator: "It will be big. We will hit the kuffar (unbelievers) hard InshAllah.

"Hit their soldiers in their own land. InshAllah. Soldiers that served in Iraq and Afghanistan will be present. Jump in the crowd and detonate the bomb.

"They think they can kill Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan then come back to the UK and be safe. We'll hit them hard InshAllah."

In 2012 he was jailed for six months after making hoax calls to a counter-terror hotline.

He also admitted publishing Tony Blair's address book the year before and was a member of TeaMpOisoN, a group which claimed responsibility for 1,400 hacking offences.

Hussain's was the second killing of a senior Islamic State figure by the US this month.

The group's second-in-command died in an American air strike near Mosul, Iraq, on 18 August.