Islamic State confirms 'Jihadi John' was killed in November U.S.-led airstrike

RAQQA, Syria, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The Islamic State terror group has confirmed the death of "Jihadi John," the masked executioner with a British accent who has repeatedly appeared in the group's execution videos.

The militant group made the announcement in an obituary Tuesday featured in its online publication known as Dabiq. It said Jihadi John died in a U.S.-led airstrike in November.

The 27-year-old jihadist's real name was Mohammed Emwazi, though he was known as "Abu Muharib al-Muhajir" among his comrades.

Emwazi, wearing a black mask, appeared in a series of beheading videos, including those depicting the deaths of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, British aid worker David Haines, American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig and British taxi driver Alan Henning.

In November, U.S. officials said they had a "high degree of certainty" that Emwazi was killed in a coalition drone strike in the IS capital of Raqqa, Syria.

"This guy was a human animal, and killing him probably makes the world a little bit better place," The Telegraph quoted Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren as saying at the time.

Earlier this month, IS released a fresh video depicting the execution of five men by a different black-masked executioner who spoke with a British accent. The man, known by the alias Abu Rumaysah, was later identified as Siddhartha Dhar, a 32-year-old British Indian who converted to Islam.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the militants released the video to distract the public from a recent series of battlefield losses.