British female IS propagandist Sally Jones killed in US drone strike: reports

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Sally Jones, a British woman who had joined the Islamic State (IS), was killed by a US drone strike in June, according to new reports.

After converting to Islam, the 49-year-old moved to Syria in 2013 with her 12-year-old son to join the militant group.

Jones’ work for IS involved recruiting would-be fighters, mainly females, and spreading propaganda for the extremist group on social media.

The former rock star from Kent in London, United Kingdom, was reportedly killed close to the border with Syria and Iraq in Raqqa by an unmanned US drone strike a few months ago.

Some reports suggested her son was killed as well.

She had married an IS extremist named Junaid Hussain—also from the UK—who was killed in a 2015 drone strike in Syria.

Jones used her social media accounts to post advice on how to travel to Syria and join IS as well as sharing photos of herself posing with weapons.

According to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, Jones’ “value to the [extremist] group was iconic rather than military.”

On the other hand, her husband was a computer hacker for IS and regarded as a “high-value target” before his death, Gardner said.

Despite several reports on social media about the British woman’s death, US Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, Spokesperson for Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), said Jones’ death could not be confirmed.

“Cannot confirm [the] death of IS propagandist Sally Jones as a result of a coalition strike,” he wrote on Twitter.

Dillon also emphasized the US-led coalition would continue to “pursue” the militant group as IS continues to lose territory in Iraq and Syria.

Editing by G.H. Renaud