Former Primark employee Muhammad Hamidur Rahman
A British former Primark employee has died fighting with jihadists in Syria, according to reports.
Muhammad Hamidur Rahman, who grew up in Portsmouth and had previously worked as a supervisor at the clothing chain, was killed fighting alongside Islamic State fighters late last month.
The 25-year-old left the UK in October last year, telling relatives he was joining on a “convoy” to deliver aid.
Rahman, of Bangladeshi origin, has said he was called by God to help Muslims being killed by President Bashar al-Assad and that he was reconciled to dying in Syria.
His father Abdul Hannan, 56, said the family were informed of his death via a text message sent from a friend their son still in the country, according to the Mail on Sunday.
His Facebook profile bears the Al-Qaeda flag. On the social media site he called for a rejection of Western democracy in favour of adherence to sharia, or Islamic, law
He was one of a number of young men from Portsmouth who travelled abroad to join jihadists. The group was led by the late Ifthekar Jaman, 23, who travelled to Syria in May, where he joined the group formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham [Syria], or Isis.
Shiraz Maher, a senior fellow at King's College London's International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said that of the group of six men from the town, two are now dead, one returned to the UK and is now in prison, while three remain fighting with IS.
In June, Mashudur Choudhury, 31, became the first person in the UK to be convicted of a terrorist offence relating to the conflict in. A jury at Kingston Crown Court found Choudhury guilty of preparing for acts of terrorism after a two-week trial.
The men discussed their plan to join the front line at Portsmouth's Jamia Mosque in July 2013.
On October 8, the five flew from Gatwick Airport to Turkey and then went by bus to reach the border town of Reyhanli. They met three other Britons and the group contacted Jaman, who already in Syria, for help in getting over the border.
Mr Maher said: “I spoke with Hamidur Rahman a few weeks before his death. He said the biggest challenge in Syria was having 'sabr' (patience) during downtime.
“From my interactions with him, Rahman was very focused, committed and serious about his cause.”
His death brings to 19 the number of Britons killed fighting in Syria.
Western governments and intelligence agencies have warned that the steady stream of young Muslims leaving their countries to fight in Syria pose a potential security threat should they return home some day.
The Islamic State - so brutal Al-Qaeda has distanced themselves from them - now controls huge swatches of northern-east Syria and northern Iraq. The US earlier this week approved military strikes wwwagainst the group to prevent them committing genocide against Christians and other minorities in the country.
These bastards are everywhere. Primark, Asda. Morrisons. Tesco, they could be working in a shoe shop, the butchers, the post office. If they have a long unkept beard, they are more than likely to be a terrorist, and that's almost all of them, and those who don't have long beards, they are supporters of the terrorists, or they are also terrorists themselves, you can't trust any of them.
A Muslim preacher on his website which is memritv.org, has just said "Quote" I Would Stress Every Muslim Should Be A Terrorist, "Unquote" These bastards are going to start a war, it is coming and it's coming to Great Britain. Europe. America. Canada. Australia, Muslims have settled in every country for one reason only, and that is to take it over. No Muslim left their own country to escape from it, they have come to conquer, and that is just what the are doing.
I don't know if any of what i say is getting through, but i do hope it is, i am trying to make everyone aware of what is going on to the thousands of people that read my blog everyday.
What people in their right minds would have Muslims in the army, Great Britain and America would. Obama is a Muslim with the Muslim Brotherhood working in the White House and the Pentagon. America is run b Muslims, and Obama wants a Muslim America. David Moron Cameron, wan's Muslims in the Army, he said there is not enough Muslims in high places, he wants Muslim Generals for crying out loud. Cameron is a traitor Obama is a traitor. Ed Miliband is a traitor, but people still vote for them. It's time to wake the f**k up, you have been brainwashed with their lies, wake up people, or one day you will wake up, but you will be under a Muslim government.
Your freedom will be gone, your free speech will be gone, your clubs and pubs will all be gone. There will be no concerts, no music, no drinking, the women will be forced to wear the burka, if you do not turn to Islam, you will be killed. All this is coming, and it's time to get prepared.