Mohammed Emwazi (born Muhammad Jassim Abdulkarim Olayan al-Dhafiri; 17 August 1988 - 12 November 2015) was a British Arab alleged to be the person seen in several videos produced by the Islamic extremist group ISIL showing the beheadings of a number of captives in 2014 and 2015. A group of his hostages nicknamed him 'John' since he was part of a four-person terrorist cell with London accents whom they called 'The Beatles'; the press later began calling him 'Jihadi John'.On 12 November 2015; US officials reported that Emwazi had been hit by a drone strike in Al-Raqqah; Syria. His death was confirmed by ISIL in January 2016.