A Belgian who was due to appear in court last week for belonging to the Islamist movement Shariah4Belgium has died in Syria. Het Laatste Nieuws reported on Wednesday that the person in question is Abdellah Nouamane, a 19-year-old from Antwerp nicknamed "Abu Jihad". Previous reports had already reported the death of a young Belgian in fights between his radical group the Islamic State and the Syrian army. However it was unclear if the person who died was the young man from Antwerp or a young man from Vilvoorde with the same name.
On Tuesday, historian and Islamic scholar Pieter Van Ostaeyen, who has been following the situation in Syria very closely, discovered a tweet with a photo announcing the death of the young man from Antwerp.
Abdellah Nouamane is already the ninth person, out of the 46 people suspected by Belgian authorities of belonging to Shariah4Belgium, to die in combat.
(Source: Belga)
