A British computer hacker, an ex-TeaMp0isoN member and a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) believed to be killed in a recent drone air strike by the United States in Syria.
The hacker was a British-born Junaid Hussain and had been accused of being involved in directing and encouraging a series of conspiracies against western countries. It is believed that the reported air strike was an operation conducted by the United States military, instead of a drone attack by CIA.
According to the various sources, because of Junaid Hussain’s threat to the US and UK citizens, he was on ranked number third in the Pentagon’s Islamic State kill list. He was also considered as one of the most noticeable UK citizens to join IS.
The United States is yet to release an official statement about Hussain’s death, but they did launch several air strikes against Isis in last several days. However, a member of US defence was cited by most of the news publications that they have a “high level of confidence” that Junaid Hussain has been killed after the specifically targeted air strike hit his vehicle when he was travelling in Syria.
The US official, while reporting to CNN, also added that the air strike on Hussain’s vehicle has been proved as a “great intelligence success” for the US military.
According to the spokesperson of the British government,
“We are aware of reports that an Isis terrorist of British nationality is believed to have been killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria.”
Junaid Hussain was a key member of Isis Cyber Caliphate group and was alleged to have helped Isis in obtaining passwords of the YouTube accounts of the United State Central Command as well as their Twitter handle in January of this year, and used those accounts to transmit pro-Isis messages.
Junaid Hussain aka TriCk, TeaMp0isoN and ZHC:
During 2012, while Junaid Hussain was residing in Britain, he had been a founding member of the hacking group TeaMp0isoN and hacked the counter-terror hotline as well as Tony Blair’s address book and made prank calls due to which he was jailed for six months.
Hussain also hacked NATO Croatia and the official website of anti-Islamic and racist organization English Defence League.
He also worked with pro-Kashmir and Palestinian hackers from Z Company Hacking Crew where he was known by his online handle ”TriCk.”
In 2010, in a joint operation TriCk and ZHC exploited a security flaw in Facebook and deleted hundreds of anti-Islamic pages.
During 2013, Junaid Hussain fled to Syria by the name of Abu Hussain al-Britani, where he was once again detained due to the doubt of violent disorder. But he was released on bail later because police officials did not have any solid proof to take legal action against him. According to sources, he was believed to be much more than a computer hacker in Syria and was one of the leaders of the hacking group Cyber Caliphate.
In case of any official statement from the United States confirming his killings, we will update the article.