Young British suicide bomber in IS attacks shocks hometown

Dewsbury, a town in West Yorkshire, has been shocked after a teenager from this small minster town was reported to carry out a suicide bombing in Iraq last week.

Local media said the 17-year-old young man, Talha Asmal, is believe to have become the youngest suicide bomber in Britain. He was thought to be one of the four suicide bombers who killed at least 11 people in the car bombings in Baiji, near the city north of Baghdad on Saturday.

The IS announced the attacks via social media, while family of Asmal said a young man named as Abu Yusuf Al Britani appeared to depict their son according to images of attackers released by the radical group.

Local media reported that he traveled to Iraq in April with a friend.

Asmal's death has not been officially confirmed so far, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said to verify the whereabouts of British nationals in Syria and Iraq was severely restricted.

Asmal's family said he was groomed on the Internet, and his handlers had preyed on his "innocence and vulnerability" before ordering him to his death.

Dewsbury councillor Masood Ahmed said the young man was "no different" from other teenagers, adding people in the town were "devastated".

Another teenager, Hasib Hussein, who blew himself up on a London bus in the attacks in July 2005, was 18 years old. He also came from West Yorkshire. Endit