The US military in November said it was "reasonably certain" the British jihadist had been killed in an airstrike.

The Arab-British IS member was born Mohammed Emwazi. He was notorious for a number of masked execution videos, including of Westerners.

IS' online magazine Dabiq said Emwazi was "targeted in a strike by an unmanned drone in the city of Raqqa, destroying the car and killing him instantly." Raqqa is the self-declared capital of the Sunni extremist group.

Other English langauge propaganda videos have since surfaced mimicking this style and threatening the West.

cw/jm (AFP, Reuters)