Pentagon confirms top IS hacker killed in air strike

The Pentagon confirmed on Friday one of the top computer experts of the extremist group the Islamic State (IS) responsible for recruiting members abroad and hacking computers was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this week.

Junaid Hussain, a 21-year-old British hacker, was killed on Monday during a U.S. military air strike on the IS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria, U.S. Air Force Col. Pat Ryder told reporters.

"He was involved in actively recruiting ISIL sympathizers in the West to carry out lone wolf style attacks," said Ryder, referring to the group by its other acronym.

"He was also responsible for releasing personally identifying information of approximately 1,300 U.S. military and government employees and specifically sought to direct violence against U.S. service members and government employees," he added.

According to the U.S. daily The Hill, U.S. defense officials believed that Hussain was also behind the hacking of U.S. Central Command's YouTube and Twitter accounts earlier this year.

"This individual was very dangerous. He had significant technical skills, and he had expressed a strong desire to kill Americans, and recruit others to kill Americans," Ryder said, adding that the airstrike was specifically targeting Hussain, the only one killed in the air raid. Enditem