Abu Abdullah al Habashi and Abu Dharda, both from London, are reported to have died in Syrian border town of Kobani

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Two British citizens are understood to have been killed fighting for Islamic State in Syria.

Abu Abdullah al Habashi, 21, and Abu Dharda, 20, both from London, are reported to have died in the Syrian border town of Kobani.

Kurdish fighters have been defending the town from an Isis onslaught for the past two months with the assistance of some 270 American air strikes.

Al Habashi is believed to have made comments supporting Isis on social media and appeared in at least two propaganda videos posted online by the extremist group.

He grew up in north London in a British-Eritrean family, and converted to Islam when he was 16.

Al Habashi told the BBC in August that he was at the “forefront” of fighting and claimed he was one of a few British jihadis who had fought with Isis in both Syria and Iraq.

His family tried to convince him to return to Britain but he had said he was happy in the Middle East and there was no going back.

Dharda, who is from a British-Somali background and grew up in west London, is understood to have travelled to Syria in December 2013 via Turkey.

It is thought that 500 Britons are fighting for Isis in Syria and about 27 are thought to have been killed.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are aware of reports of the death of two British nationals in Syria. The UK has advised for some time against all travel to Syria, where all UK consular services are suspended.

“As we do not have any representation in Syria, it is extremely difficult to get any confirmation of deaths or injuries and our options for supporting British nationals there are extremely limited.”

Isis continues to bring more fighters and weapons to Kobani but has still been unable to capture the besieged Syrian Kurdish town.

Retired Marine General John Allen, the US envoy for the coalition fighting Isis, said this week that the Islamic group had “impaled itself” on the town.

David Phillips, of Columbia University’s institute for the study of human rights and an expert on Kurdish issues, said the jihadis’ setback in Kobani was a statement of Isis’s vulnerability.

“The aura of invincibility that built up with its advances over the summer has been shattered. Kobani is a small city and Isis placed great stock in winning, and now it’s been forced to turn tail,” he said. “[Kobani] is levelled but it may prove to be Islamic State’s Waterloo.”