Baghdad: An Irish jihadi Khalid Kelly, 49, who was nicknamed as ‘Terry Taliban’, blown himself by driving an armoured truck laden with explosives at Iraqi militia near a town called Tal Afar, 50 miles south-west of Mosul, on Friday night.
According to Jihadi Threat Monitor, Kelly was confirmed by ISIS as carrying out an attack against Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.
He was one of the five bombers who blew themselves up in and near Mosul this weekend, as part of the terror group’s desperate attempts to defend the city against Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Kelly, the former Catholic altar boy was trained as a midwife and intensive care unit nurse. In 2000 he was arrested and sent to the prison for eight months in Riyadh for making alcohol at his home and selling it.
He converted to Islam. After serving his sentence, and was named as Khalid. He moved to London, where he became friends with extremist cleric Omar Bakri and his lieutenant Anjem Choudary. Bakri has been banned from re-entering Britain after he went to Lebanon on holiday in 2005, and Choudary, 49, is in prison for supporting IS.
Kelly said: ‘I am from Dublin but I am no longer a Westerner. I am a Muslim. I am living 60 miles from the Afghan border. I may travel there and if I came across a Dubliner in a British Army uniform I would not have any problem in fighting, bombing or killing him as I would anyone who is harming Muslims.
‘The people here in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now my people. If my own brother was harming Muslims I would have no hesitation in killing him.’
Kelly told a newspaper: ‘Personally I would feel happy if Obama was killed. How could I not feel happy when a big enemy of Islam is gone?’ He was arrested but released without charge.
According to Irish security forces, Kelly is believed to have flown to London to visit his family in March, and then on to Turkey, after which he crossed the border to Iraq.