Reyaad Khan, 21, who appeared in an Isis video last year, is likely to have been killed in raid two weeks ago, say experts corroborated by social media reports

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

One of three young Britons who featured in a prominent Islamic State (Isis) recruiting video last year is believed to have been killed by an air strike in Syria.

The family of Reyaad Khan, a 21-year-old from Cardiff, had been shocked by his appearance in the video, along with school friend Nasser Muthana and a third man named as Abdul Raqib Amin, from Aberdeen.

A year later, Khan is thought to have been killed in Syria, where he was fighting with the terrorist group.

Shiraz Maher, a senior fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College in London, tweeted on Monday that researchers were confident that Khan was now dead but this was not absolutely categoric.

The death was likely to have happened about two weeks ago, he added.

On social media, an account believed to belong to a female British jihadi in Syria said on 17 July that “Abu Dujana” ( a name used for Khan) had been “lost”. Employing a term used by jihadis to describe dead fighters, she went on to describe him as having become a “green bird”.

A police statement said: “South Wales police cannot confirm or corroborate reports on social media highlighting the injury or death of Riyad Khan, or any other individual, who has travelled to Syria. The media are urged to treat any such reports with caution.”

Well before he was radicalised, Khan was captured on film five years ago speaking of his desire to rid the world of evil and of the problems of growing up in a deprived inner-city area.

In the interview, exclusively obtained by the Guardian, Khan argued the government wasted resources on “illegal wars” and said more money ought to be spent on young people to help prevent them being led down the “wrong path”.

He described the challenges of avoiding criminality in the Cardiff neighbourhood where he grew up, claiming there were fewer chances for younger people to succeed. He said teenagers from minority ethnic backgrounds suffered stereotyping.

Asked if the world was a good place, Khan smiled before replying: “The world can be a lovely place but you’ve just got to get rid of the evil. If everyone could choose the good, the evil will go away.”