Image: YouTube
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Two other jihadists are known to have originated from the same city: Damian Clairmont, who reportedly died in Syria in January, and Salman Ashrafi, who died in a suicide bombing in Iraq last November in an ISIS operation.The “Muhajir” ("immigrant" in Arabic) identified himself as Abu Usamah to me, and did not confirm his city of origin or whether he is indeed the man identified by CBC, only that he was the Canadian in the video. (When I asked him where he was from, he said, “Lol don’t make me laugh.”)During our wide-ranging interview on the chat platform Kik Messenger, he came across as relatively casual, using words like “no problemo,” “homie,” and even at one point telling me to “holla” at one of his boys if I needed more information.To start, he simply asked me what I wanted to know about him. “I’m Canadian, well I was Canadian,” Abu Usamah said. “I have no other identity other than Muslim and yes, I’m the guy that ripped my passport in the video.”
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A picture from Abu Usamah's now defunct instagram account.
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