Trump says IS Beatles taken into US custody

El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, two of the so-called ‘IS Beatles’ have been taken out of Syria to ‘a secure location controlled by the US’.

The pair from London are accused of being part of an Islamic State group cell which kidnapped and murdered Western hostages in Syria. According to US media reports they are in the custody of the American military, with President Trump describing them in a tweet as ‘the worst of the worst’.

Trump claimed that the decision to remove the duo from Syria had been taken ‘in case the Kurds or Turkey lose control’. This follows the US withdrawing its forces from the region this week.

The President told reporters that th US had transferred ‘some of the most dangerous IS fighters’ amid fears they could escape custody as Turkish troops invade Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria. The Kurds guard thousands of IS fighters and their relatives in prisons and camps in areas under their control. It is unclear whether they will continue to do so if fighting breaks out.

The other members of the ‘IS Beatles’ terror cell included Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, who was killed in a US air strike in 2015, and Aine Davis, who has been jailed in Turkey.