Police are investigating claims that a leading member of Islamic State killed by air strikes in Syria was a businessman who studied and worked in South Wales.
Siful Haque Sujan, 31, was killed in military action by the US-led coalition.
The Pentagon called him “a key link between networks” for ISIS and said he was a hacker for the murderous group.
The Telegraph claimed Sujan, 31, was a former student at the University of Glamorgan – now the University of South Wales – and later worked in the area.
'Now he's dead, IS has lost a key link between networks'
The Pentagon said: “Syria-based Bangladeshi Siful Haque Sujan was killed on December 10 near Raqqah, Syria.
“Sujan was an external operations planner and a United Kingdom-educated computer systems engineer.”
Colonel Steve Warren said: “Sujan supported ISIL hacking efforts, anti-surveillance technology and weapons development.
"Now that he’s dead, ISIL has lost a key link between networks.”
Col Warren said that Sujan's killing was part of an effort to remove the leadership of Islamic State.
He said: "As I mentioned before, in addition to our tactical operation, we are also striking at the head of this snake by hunting down and killing ISIL leaders.
"Over the past month, we have killed 10 leadership figures with targeted airstrikes, including several external attack planners, some of whom are linked to the Paris attacks, others had designs on further attacking the West."
Rhydfelin
According to BBC Wales, Sujan bought a house at Rhydyfelin near Pontypridd 10 years ago while he was a student and rented it out.
Former neighbours Donna and Nigel Davies were surprised at the news.
"He was a nice enough outgoing guy, always polite to us," Mrs Davies said.
"It was a hell of a shock - living next door to someone like that for four years and not knowing anything about it."
South Wales Police said it was aware of the reports of Sujan’s death and was working to ascertain what had happened.
Detective Supt Lee Porter said: “South Wales Police and the Counter Terrorism Unit (WECTU) have been made aware of press reports that Siful Haque Sujan may have been killed in Syria as a result of a drone strike.
“We are unable to confirm or deny the accuracy of these reports at this time but are currently working with our partners to ascertain what has happened.
“While we understand Mr Sujan had lived and worked in South Wales, he had left the UK in 2014 thus was not a resident of Wales at the time of his death.”
According to The Telegraph, Sujan was “a leading figure in the militants’ hacking campaign and their efforts to defeat surveillance and tracking by Western spy agencies”.
He became a senior militant figure when he replaced another leading Isil hacker from Britain, Junaid Hussain, who was killed by an air strike in August.
He left the UK in 2014.
A spokesman for the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are unable to verify these reports. The UK has advised for some time against all travel to Syria, where all UK consular services are suspended.
“As we do not have any representation in Syria, it is extremely difficult to get any confirmation of deaths or injuries.”
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/anti-terror-police-investigate-claims-10672313
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