"Jihadi John"
"Jihadi John"Reuters

Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist and poster figure Mohammed Emwazi was not killed by a US airstrike alone, but also through a crack team of British special forces on the ground, it was revealed Sunday. 

“Jihadi John” was seen in ISIS videos showing the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Allan Henning, and most recently Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.

While Washington claimed to have killed Emwazi in an airstrike coordinated with the UK in November, an eight-member team of the Special Air Service (SAS), an elite British military force, coordinated events from the ground, the Daily Mail reports. 

UK intelligence forces determined Emwazi's exact location on November 11, the daily said: near a famous clock tower in the ISIS "capital" of Raqqah, Syria.

One hour later, two Chinooks armed with 8 SAS men flew low over the Syrian desert to a spot some 35 miles north of Raqqah - then rode two desert vehicles, at the risk of their lives, to release drones which would confirm Emwazi's presence at the site. 

On November 12, the drones captured photos of Emwazi, which were then relayed to the US-UK operating team.

After several hours of waiting, the drones took a snapshot of Emwazi at approximately 10:00 pm - and then the US team, operating from Doha, Qatar, armed a Reaper drone with Hellfire missiles and fired at Emwazi as he entered his car, killing him.