British Islamic State recruiter Sally-Anne Jones killed in US drone strike

London: British Islamic State recruiter Sally-Anne Jones, nicknamed the “White Widow”, has been killed in a US drone strike, a media report said. Jones was said to have been killed in June in a US strike close to the border between Syria and Iraq, the Sun newspaper reported citing CIA officials. [caption id=“attachment_3536423” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Previously a punk musician, Jones was the world’s most wanted female terrorist for more than three years. Muslim convert Jones fled to Syria from Kent in 2013 and married computer hacker Junaid Hussain, an Islamic State fighter from Birmingham, and took her then 11-year-old son, Joe Dixon, with her. A Whitehall source told the Sun: “The Americans zapped her trying to get away from Raqqa. Quite frankly, it’s good riddance.” CIA officials told their UK counterparts that a US Air Force Predator killed 50-year-old Jones. But news of the death was kept quiet over fears her son might have also been killed in the strike. It is not known if her son was with her, the newspaper said. Reports said Jones was last seen alive fleeing the carnage in Raqqa and heading towards the Syrian border town of Mayadin. Jones regularly used her son as a human shield, the report said. Jones was called the “White Widow” after her husband Hussain was killed by a drone in 2015. Jones used to recruit Western girls to the group and posted threatening messages to Christians in the UK. She used her Twitter account to provide practical advice on how to travel to Syria.