From Portsmouth’s Primark to Syria’s holy war

He became known as the Primark jihadist.

Hamidur Rahamn, 25, once worked as a supervisor at the clothing store in Portsmouth.

Last October, he told his family he was joining an aid convoy to the region, but it soon emerged that in fact he had signed up with Isis.

He posted a message on Twitter to say that he was “called by God to help Muslims being killed by President Bashar al-Assad” and that he was reconciled to dying in Syria.

But Mr Rahman would also post more mundane messages about his daily life as a fighter, including pictures of his favourite food.

Shiraz Maher, a senior fellow at King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation, said: “I spoke with Hamidur Rahman a few weeks before his death.

Fighting in a jihad

“He said the biggest challenge in Syria was having ‘sabr’ [patience] during downtime.”

Mr Rahman was part of a group of six men from Portsmouth who went to fight jihad.

Two have now understood to have died, one returned to the UK and three are still fighting.

The group was well known in Portsmouth. They were often seen in the city centre at their Da’wa stall, spreading the word of Islam and handing out leaflets to passers-by.

They were led by the charismatic Iftekar Jaman, who was killed last December.

The 23-year-old had previously worked in customer services for Sky.

‘The law of Allah’

He told his followers he was “trying to establish the law of God, the law of Allah”.

He had gained a cult following on social media, with his regular dispatches from the war zone. We spoke exclusively to Mr Jaman’s family after his death and they told us they were proud that he had died a martyr.

The security services believe Mr Jaman encouraged a number of other young Brits to join Isis, widely regarded as the most brutal of the jihadist groups.

It’s thought up to 400 British Muslims went to Syria to fight. In June, Isis changed their name to IS, the Islamic State, and declared their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the new Caliphate.

They stormed into Iraq from Syria, taking over large swathes of the country and imposing their harsh interpretation of Sharia law.

‘Convert to Islam or die’

This week, thousands of the minority Yazidi tribe have had to flee for their lives, after being told by IS they will be executed if they don’t convert to Islam.

There has been a huge debate within Britain about whether fighters who take part in these atrocities will pose a threat to the UK if they ever return.

The security services firmly believe they will and have warned anyone travelling to the region that they face arrest.

One of the Portsmouth contingent who travelled with Mr Rahman was arrested when he returned after just a few weeks on the battle field.

Mashudur Choudhury, a father of two, became the first Brit to be convicted of fighting with Isis.

He had suggested a name for the Portsmouth contingent – Britani brigade Bangladeshi bad boys.

Mr Rahamn’s death has not been officially confirmed. It’s understood his family were informed by one of his friends, by text message.