ISIS executioner filmed beheading Western hostage is killed by tank shell

AN ISIS executioner filmed beheading a Western hostage has been killed by a tank shell in the terror group’s last stand in Syria.

Indonesian terrorist Muhammad Saifuddin executed the foreigner in a 2016 video, and was used as a recruitment tool to attract foreign fighters.

He was killed last month in a battle with US-backed forces in Syria, Indonesian police and a family member said today.

National police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said Saifuddin, who used the aliases Abu Walid and Mohammed Karim Yusop Faiz, was killed in eastern Deir Ezzor province.

Prasetyo said: "He was killed by shrapnel from a Syrian forces tank in the battle.”

Saifuddin's older brother, Muinudinillah Basri, said the family learned about the death through an gruesome instant messaging app picture.

There was a photo of his body and I can recognise it.

He said: "There was a photo of his body and I can recognise it.”

The grim propaganda video showed him along with two other militants from Malaysia and the Philippines killing three foreigners, including Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, who were dressed in orange jumpsuits and forced to kneel before being slain.

The US in August designated Saifuddin and the two other killers in the IS video, Malaysian Mohammad Rafi Udin and Filipino Mohammed Reza Lahaman Kiram, as global terrorists.

Basri said the family hadn't heard from Saifuddin since he left Indonesia to join IS in Syria with his wife and children about four years ago.

TWIN BROTHER ALSO KILLED
His twin brother also joined ISIS and died in the conflict.

One of Saifuddin's Indonesian friends, convicted militant Sofyan Tsauri, said that in radical circles Saifuddin was perceived as trusted by IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a leader of Southeast Asian Islamic militants.

Saifuddin was reportedly arrested in the Philippines while attempting to return to Indonesia with weapons and explosives and sentenced to nine years in prison in 2007.

After marrying the widow of an Indonesian suicide bomber following his early release in 2013, Saifuddin sank below the radar of authorities.

He reappeared several years later in an IS propaganda video that urged Indonesian Muslims to oppose the government and join the violent jihad.

ISIS face being finally routed in Syria within hours as fighters supported by British and US special forces close in for the kill.