michigan. and much, much more on a busy friday, first look starts right now. good morning, thanks for being with us. i m shannon mulaire. we start with breaking news overnight. a u.s. airstrike targeted the notorious isis terrorist known as jihadi john. the pentagon says the drone attack happened last night in northern syria, in the isis stronghold of raqqah. jihadi john is a kuwaiti-born british militant seen in a number of isis propaganda videos that show the execution of westerners. right now a senior u.s. counterterrorism official tells nbc news there s, quote, no definitive proof yet that he was killed. nbc seas keir simmons is in london with the very latest on this developing story. reporter: shannon, good morning. u.s. officials saying that they targeted the man known as jihadi john in a drone strike overnight in the city of raqqah. that is isis de facto capital in syria. held by isis for some years now.
that you see. jihadi john, his real name by the way, mohammed emwazi, he is a british man from the streets of london, who went to syria and joined isis. the family of steven sokolof, the american journalist who was killed, said i haven t really hear the news. if they got him, great. it doesn t bring my son back. who knows if he s gone but i don t think there will ever be closure. that s a quote from shirley sotloff, the mother of steven sotloff. . reaction, too, from the family of james foley. this reaction given to abc news. it says, this huge effort to go after this deranged man filled with hate when they can t make half that effort to save the hostages while these young americans were still alive. that from diane foley, the mother of james foley. so reaction already, although i say again, we don t know for certain whether jihadi john has, indeed, been killed. seems like the families are
seeing that it s too little, too late. nbc keir simmons, thanks so much. we re also following breaking news in the effort to retake the isis-controlled town of sinjar. nbc news has confirmed that kurdish forces have now entered the northern iraqi town, and are clearing out the remaining isis militants. the terror group overran sinjar last year. the operation to retake it began yesterday with the help of some 20 u.s. airstrikes. peshmerga forces have also reportedly recaptured a main highway that isis uses to transport supplies between iraq and syria. meanwhile, it s a national day of mourning in lebanon following yesterday s twin bombings near the capital city of beirut. at least 43 people were killed and more than 200 injured when twin explosions went off in a shopping area. isis quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. according to the global security firm flashpoint intelligence, isis militants say a motorcycle equipped with explosives was detonated first, followed by a su
foreign correspondent keir si n simmo simmons. keir, exactly when and where did this all happen? well, louis, the drone strike was over in the city of raqqah. that is isis de facto capital in syria. and there are reports via twitter from groups inside raqqah saying that the strike hit a vehicle near the clock tower. these twitter reports say. and according to reporting, the man known as jihadi john was inside that vehicle. clearly, intelligence crossed the west from the u.s. to the uk would have been trying to track where he was and would have been looking for an opportunity like this. as you mentioned, right now, we don t know for sure whether he has, indeed, been killed. we are hearing that there may be a statement by the british prime minister pretty soon, and that may clarify some of this. but already we re getting reaction from some of the families whose loved ones were killed in those sickening videos