Notorious British jihadis hit with travel bans as United Nations targets Islamic State

From the Express and ITV News

The jihadis are suspected of leading recruitment drives and plotting terror attacks against the UK and elsewhere from strongholds in Syria. Under the sanctions, approved by the United Nations to deter more Britons joining the terror group, they face with travel bans and asset freezes.

They are Omar Hussain from High Wycombe, Nasser Muthana from Cardiff, Aqsa Mahmood from Glasgow and Sally Jones from Chatham, in Kent.

Some are believed to be holed-up in the extremist-held Syrian city of Raqqa, where two militants were killed in an RAF drone strike in August.

It is the first time since 2006 the UK has submitted names of Britons under the UN’s sanctions regime, initially set up to tackle suspected al-Qaida terrorists.

Jones, an ex-punk rocker dubbed ‘Mrs Terror’, travelled to Syria in 2013 with her husband Junaid Hussain – who was killed in August’s RAF drone strike. The mother-of-one, 45, uses social media to recruit women to join the twisted terror group. After her vile husband’s death, she tweeted: “I’m proud my husband was killed by the biggest enemy of Allah. May Allah be pleased with him and I will never love anyone but him.”

Mahmood fled her family home in Glasgow in November 2013 and married an ISIS fighter in Syria. The 20-year-old is thought to be a key figure in the al-Khanssaa brigade, a female group established to enforce Sharia law. In June she wrote a poem praising horrific terrorist attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait as “a day of resistance and memory”.

Omar Hussain, who is also known as Abu-Said al-Britani, travelled to Syria early last year and is also part of ISIS’ slick propaganda network. The 28-year-old used to work as a security guard at a Morrison’s supermarket. In August last year he spoke publicly in the British media and claimed he would only return to the UK to “plant a bomb”.

Muthana joined ISIS in Syria in 2013 and appeared alongside Junaid Hussain last year in a recruitment video. The 21-year-old – a former medical student – has also threatened the UK in social media posts.

Approval by a UN committee means the individuals are subject to a global asset freeze and travel ban, but the move is also designed as a deterrent to dissuade would-be fighters.

The UK submitted five names to the committee – a fifth is still to be approved for inclusion on the sanctions list.