British PM Cameron vows to stop extremism in UK

Europe, News February 28, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

UK Prime Minster David Cameron has vowed to utilize Britain’s full force to stop extremists from committing “appalling and heinous crimes”.

“When there are people anywhere in the world who commit appalling and heinous crimes against British citizens, we will do everything we can, with the police, with security services, with all that we have at our disposal, to find these people and put them out of action. That is the number one priority for me,” Cameron said at a news conference in Cardiff, Wales, on Friday.

The prime minister’s comments were the first since Thursday when Kuwaiti-born British citizen Mohammed Emwazi was named as the masked ISIS terrorist, known as Jihadi John, who is seen in a number of videos purportedly beheading foreign hostages.

As of yet UK police have refrained from confirming the reports of Jihadi John’s real identity, but families of the killed hostages have expressed hope that the identification would lead to him being brought to justice.

“My only hope is that the revelation of his identity will lead to his arrest,” Dragana, the widow of murdered British aid worker David Haines, told AFP.

However, British news channel ITV reported Haines’ daughter Bethany as saying that victims’ families would only “feel closure and relief once there’s a bullet between his eyes.”

The UK’s domestic spy agency MI5 has come under fire for allegedly knowing about Emwazi and failing to apprehend him.

CAGE, a London-based civil rights group, has said Emwazi was being tracked by MI5 since 2009 following a trip to Tanzania, when he was accused of attempting to join militants in Somalia.

Jihadi John has appeared in seven videos released by the ISIS since August 2014, when he beheaded US journalist James Foley.

SRK/AS/MHB