Irish jihadi ‘Terry Taliban’ blows himself up in Iraq suicide bombing

Mosul : An Irish jihadi has blown himself up in a suicide attack in Mosul. Khalid Kelly, known as Terry Taliban in Dublin, killed himself on Friday night as fighting continued in Mosul. Kelly, who was calling himself Abu Osama Al-Irlandi, was a former altar boy who was born in the Liberties in Dublin and trained to be a nurse after leaving school. 

According to Jihadi Threat Monitor, he was confirmed by ISIS as carrying out an attack against Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.

The 42-year-old father-of-one, travelled to Saudi Arabia to work tax free but was caught with a crate load of Johnnie Walker scotch and was jailed.

While in prison he converted to Islam and was soon radicalised, glorifying the 9/11 attackers and the London suicide bombers of 7/7. Kelly was born Terence Kelly and is said to have become a friend of Anjem Choudary. 

In 2009, Kelly was living in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, just 60 miles from the Afghan border. He believed that it was up to Allah whether he fights and dies for Islam, but claimed that he has no concerns as to his fate.

Speaking in 2009, Kelly said: “I am from Dublin but I am no longer a Westerner. I am a Muslim. I am living 60 miles from the Afghan border. I may travel there and if I came across a Dubliner in a British Army uniform I would not have any problem in fighting, bombing or killing him as I would anyone who is harming Muslims.”

“The people here in Pakistan and Afghanistan are now my people. If my own brother was harming Muslims I would have no hesitation in killing him,” he added.

Kelly appeared on the Late Late Show in October 2003 as part of his mission to raise awareness of his radical group Al Mahajiroun, which was later banned by British authorities. 

In a lengthy interview, he talked about how he was never able to accept Christianity from his Catholic upbringing and was converted to Islam because he believed the Quran was written to correct mistakes about God and Allah.  

Not only did he give up drinking when he left prison, but he sold his house because interest is forbidden in Islam and as he had a mortgage, he had to give up his property ownership. 

Speaking about the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., Kelly said: “I believe Allah gives life and takes life. ‘They [the 3000 who died] would have died wherever they were in the world, it is just a condition of their death.” 

The suicide attack comes as Iraqi special forces cleared buildings on Saturday in neighborhoods they entered in eastern Mosul a day earlier.