British jihadists: The friends who want to be martyrs
By Steve Swann
"If you get captured you need to blow yourself up because if you get captured they won't mess about. They will break your bones. They will beat you up."
These words are greeted with laugher from a group of British men.
They can be heard chatting and one, with a northern accent, is talking about his recent experience of being wounded in his first battle.
His right leg was fractured when it was penetrated by a bullet fired by a Syrian soldier - many miles from the young man's home in Manchester.
His companions laugh again as he recounts the moment when he grabbed hold of a bomb belt, believing his death was close.
The wounded man, who is doing most of the talking in a conversation that was recorded and posted online last year, is referred to by his alias - Abu Qa'qa.
It is believed he is Raphael Hostey, a university student from Manchester.
A judge recently said he had "become an inspirational figure encouraging others to travel and join in with jihad" in Syria and Iraq.
Ifthekar Jaman (left) and Khalil Raoufi (far right), a friend of Raphael Hostey, are fighters believed to have died
Full Article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32091701
