British Isis fighter linked to Manchester attacker revealed as part of same cell as Jihadi John

A jihadi linked to the Manchester attacker has been identified as a key member of a group of British Isis fighters that included Jihadi John.

Footage has emerged showing Raymond Matimba among four of the UK’s most notorious extremists chatting in a coffee shop in Syria.

A video obtained by the Telegraph shows Matimba, Mohammed Emwazi, Reyaad Khan and Junaid Hussain in Raqqa in 2014.

A source told the newspaper that Matimba, who was previously thought to be a peripheral figure among British Isis fighters, had been put in charge of sniper training and called for terror attacks.

“He said that he hated his city, that he wanted it to be bombed,” the source added.

Matimba is believed to have been an associate of Salman Abedi, and been in contact with him in the run-up to the attack in May.

open image in gallery

The Zimbabwe-born extremist fled Manchester for Syria in 2014 and adopted the nom de guerre Abu Qaqa al-Britani al-Afro.

Other members of the clique became notorious, with Emwazi unmasked as the executioner in gory videos showing the murder of hostages including James Foley and Alan Henning.

Hussain was a prolific online recruiter under the name Abu Hussain al-Britani and headed Isis’ “cyber caliphate” hacking division, releasing a list of American military personnel for supporters to kill and contacting one of the gunmen behind the Curtis Culwell Center attack.

The 21-year-old went on to marry Sally Jones, a British jihadi known as the White Widow.

Khan, a 21-year-old from Cardiff, appeared in propaganda videos and was part of a cell attempting to organise terror attacks in the West, including plots in Britain.

He was killed in the first ever RAF drone strike targeting a British national in August 2015, with Hussain killed in an American strike three days later and Emwazi died in another US drone attack in November that year.

open image in gallery

Matimba, 29, was reported to have been killed in fighting earlier this year but relatives have not received any confirmation of his death.

He was among more than a dozen known terrorists from the same district of Manchester.

Isis registration documents show that Matimba was among the local jihadis sponsored to join the group by prolific recruiter Raphael Hostey, who died in an air strike in Syria in 2016.

Abedi, the Manchester bomber, was known to security services because of his association with Hostey long before he massacred 22 people at Manchester Arena in May.

The extremist also had links to local gangs and was known for drinking and taking drugs before appearing increasingly religious and making radical statements.

Hostey is believed to have introduced Matimba and Abedi, who grew up on the same housing estates in south Manchester and reportedly worshipped at the same mosque.

Among those sponsored by Hostey were former RAF gunner and Muslim convert Stephen Gray and Ronald Fiddler, known as Jamal al Harith, who killed himself in a suicide bombing in Mosul.