A German rapper who became one of Islamic State’s most famous Islamic fighters was killed last week in an airstrike in Syria, according to a statement from a pro-IS media channel. Denis Cuspert, aka Abu Talha al-Almani and ‘Deso Dogg’, was killed in the Deir al-Zour province where IS has been has been reporting high activity recently
Helped set up Islamic State’s media body
The statement by Wafa Media which was translated into English by extremist monitoring agency SITE, said Cuspert was massively injured in the Raqa siege. It also said that his story had “an effective role in attracting the foreigner brothers” and that he “contributed to establishment of” central media division of ISIS’ al-Hayat, SITE’s director Rita Katz posted on Twitter
As Deso Dogg, he recorded three albums which achieved moderate success, but ended his musical career in 2010, writes Jason Burke in the Guardian. The rapper converted to Islam in 2007 and left for Egypt in 2012 after falling under the influence of another convert and hardline preacher, adds Burke, who has been writing extensively on Islamic extremism
Married FBI translator
The rapper reportedly married an FBI translator hired to spy on him. Daniela Greene, an FBI translator with “top secret” security clearance, allegedly sneaked off to Syria in June 2014 to marry Cuspert after she grew attracted to the extremist while spying on him, according to US court documents. Green was arrested on her return to the US less than two months after travelling to Syria
Dead this time
Cuspert’s death has been reported before, including by the Pentagon which announced he had been killed in an airstrike in Syria in October 2015. It later acknowledged he appeared to have survived the attack. But this time, Wafa Media posted eight graphic photographs on the Telegram app that it said were of his bloody corpse
Threats against Obama
US officials have said Cuspert had made threats against former US president Barack Obama and US and German citizens, and had also encouraged Western Muslims to carry out IS-inspired attacks