‘Jihadist’ suspected of murdering British mercenary in Ukraine

Kiev has reportedly bolstered its ranks with extremists, several of whom are accused of plotting attacks in Russia and the EU

Ukrainian authorities believe that an Australian-Algerian jihadist was responsible for the death of a British mercenary near Zaporozhye last year, UK police have stated. The suspect, known as ‘Jihadi Adam’, remains at large in Ukraine.

A former paratrooper, 36-year-old Daniel Burke traveled to Ukraine last August to take up arms against Russia. Burke’s body was found in a drainage ditch several kilometers behind the frontline in Zaporozhye less than a month later with gunshot wounds to the back of the head and neck.

In a statement on Thursday, Greater Manchester Police said that Ukrainian authorities “have a named suspect in their investigation into Daniel’s death, Abdelfetah ‘Adam’ Nourine, Also known as ‘Jihadi Adam’.”

Nourine holds dual Australian and Algerian nationality. According to Greater Manchester Police, he fled the scene of Burke’s murder and “remains outstanding in efforts to find him.”

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The force provided no further information about Nourine or his background. Burke, however, had previously fought in armed conflicts in the Middle East. The former paratrooper traveled to Syria in 2017 to join the YPG, a US-aligned Kurdish militia that opposed both Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), and President Bashar Assad.

Burke was charged with three terror offenses upon returning to Britain in 2019, although the charges were subsequently dropped. While the YPG is not considered a terrorist group by the UK, its fighters clashed with the forces of Türkiye – a NATO member – whilst Burke was in Syria.

‘Jihadi Adam’ is not the only radical Islamist to find refuge in Ukraine. After fighting the Russian military in his native Chechnya, terrorist Rustam Azhiev fought alongside Jabhat Al-Nusra extremists in Syria, before embarking on a career of contract killings, extortion, torture, and racketeering. Azhiev was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services in 2022, given a Ukrainian passport, and put to work attacking Russian border settlements earlier this year.

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Russian security forces apprehended the four alleged perpetrators of last week’s Moscow concert hall massacre as they were attempting to flee into Ukraine. Prior to the attack, the men had received “significant sums of money” from Ukraine, the Russian Investigative Committee stated on Thursday.

In the wake of the shooting, Austria’s Heute news outlet reported that a “large number” of suspected terrorists have entered the EU from Ukraine. Among them were two Tajik nationals and a Chechen arrested in Austria and Germany last December on suspicion of plotting an attack on the iconic St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, the newspaper claimed. 

According to Directorate 4, an analytical and monitoring center researching Islamic radicalism and fundamentalism, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has recruited radical Islamists since 2015 “with the goal of carrying out sabotage and terrorist attacks on Russian territory.”