BBC News - Death of a British al-Shabab fighter

 

BBC News - Death of a British al-Shabab fighter

Last week the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab released an hour-long propaganda video - featuring a number of British men the group said had died fighting for it.

They included "Talha," a British-Asian man from Tower Hamlets in east London, whom the video said had been killed last November.

Speaking in a noticeably British accent, he smiles at the camera while holding a rifle - and explains his motivation for being in the country.

"All the Muslims in Britain, especially the people of Tower Hamlets, the citadel I was born in. I call upon you to come to jihad," he says.

 

But who is "Talha" and how did he end up fighting - and dying - for al-Shabab, the group that has claimed responsibility for the Westgate attack in Nairobi?

Continue reading the main story BBC News has learnt that his real name is Taufail Ahmed. He was a British citizen of Bangladeshi heritage who grew up in Stepney Green in east London.

 

A number of British Muslims who knew him before he left for Somalia spoke to BBC News - but none wanted to be identified in case of repercussions.