So-called 'Beatles' ISIL militants captured in Syria

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Two British ISIL fighters who became known as the "Beatles" have been captured by Syrian Kurdish fighters, two US officials confirmed.

The two, whose capture in January was first reported on Thursday by the New York Times, were identified as Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh.

They were the last of a group of four militants, named after the UK pop group because of their English accents, to be at large. The four were reportedly involved in the torture and killings of Western hostages.

The British pair are said to have been in a group with Moehmmed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John." /Reuters Photo

The US State Department had reported in March last year that Elsheikh, 29, “was said to have earned a reputation for waterboarding, mock executions, and crucifixions while serving as an ISIS jailer.”

It sanctioned Kotey, 34, in January 2017, saying he was a guard for the "Beatles" and "likely engaged in the group’s executions and exceptionally cruel torture methods, including electronic shock and waterboarding."

Kotey had also acted as a recruiter and was responsible for recruiting several British nationals to join the militant group, the State Department said.

A separate US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had captured the two in early January in eastern Syria. The official said US forces in the area had been given access to the militants.

The most notorious of the four was Mohammed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John," an executioner of hostages made famous by ISIL videos of beheadings.

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ride in an armored vehicle 20km north of Raqa, during their offensive towards ISIL's Syrian stronghold on Thursday. /VCG Photo

Emwazi became the public face of ISIL and a symbol of its brutality after appearing in videos showing the murders of US journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and other hostages.

A US-British missile strike believed to have killed Emwazi, a British citizen of Arab origin, was months in preparation but came together at lightning speed in 2015 in the Syrian town of Raqqa, according to US officials.

A US-led coalition has pushed ISIL out of most of the territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria, but its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who proclaimed the self-styled caliphate in 2014, remains at large.

Source(s): Reuters