TRADE, GOLD AND THE WoT:

The US military said it was "reasonably confident" the Hellfire missile aiming for his car in the Syrian city of Raqqa on Thursday had hit the right target, killing the man known as Jihadi John and that the strike had not caused civilian casualties.

"This is significant of course because Jihadi John was somewhat of an Isil [Isis] celebrity - a kind of a face of the organisation in many senses - so there is significant blow to their prestige," said Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren.

"This guy was a human animal. "Killing him is probably making the world a better place."

The targeted killing came just hours before Kurdish Peshmerga forces retook the Iraqi town of Sinjar, in an operation that was backed by American air strikes. US special forces working alongside Kurdish fighters in Iraq have directed about 250 air strikes against Isis fighters in the town in recent days, helping them sever a key supply line between Islamic extremists in the two countries.

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